


Fall From Grace

by vericus



Series: Excellent Adventure [1]
Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: F/M, OC Character Death, Pre-Autobot, Pre-Earth, Twin Angst OMG
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-12
Updated: 2012-06-12
Packaged: 2017-11-07 13:49:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/431869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vericus/pseuds/vericus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They never wanted to become what they were now.  But when all other options were closed to them, they had no choice...but to fall from grace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> While this is part of the 'Excellent Adventure' series, it is entirely different in tone. The rest of the series is crack humour - this is pure, unadulterated angst. It is, however, written to be a prequel to 'Once More With Feeling', expanding on part of Sideswipe and Perceptor's conversation.

Stumbling to a stop, Sideswipe could only stare as the building in front of him exploded.  The heat and noise of the explosion washed over him, but he didn't flinch, his CPU spinning as he tried to comprehend what was happening.  He barely registered it when Inertia, his assistant, grabbed him by the arm and yelled something to him.  He could only stare at her dumbly, until she grabbed his arm in exasperation and pulled him away.  He stumbled after her, not registering where they were going, or that Inertia was yelling into her comm line, until he felt a familiar presence in his spark, and suddenly his brother was beside him - not truly there, merely a projection of his spark, but it was enough for now.  
  
"Bro?  What's wrong?" Sunstreaker asked softly, concern showing in his optics, and Sideswipe's CPU finally focused, allowing him to choke out an explanation.  
  
"They're gone.  The warehouses, the offices, everything.  The Decepticons destroyed them," he said, and the illusory Sunstreaker was suddenly closer, wrapping him in a phantom hug that somehow still managed to comfort Sideswipe.  
  
"I'm sorry Sides," he said softly, sorrow clear in his voice. "Can you rebuild?"  
  
"No.  Not after this," Sideswipe said with a bitter laugh. "I spent all my spare credits rebuilding after their last attack - and they left something to salvage last time.  This time there's nothing.  It's gone, every last bit of it."  
  
"You can use my credits then," Sunstreaker said reassuringly.  
  
"No, I won't," Sideswipe said with a shake of his head. "Not when the Decepticons are just going to blow it all up again."  
  
"Then we'll use them to move.  Go to another city, far away from the Decepticons.  Iacon, or Polyhex," Sunstreaker said with determination. "And you can rebuild there, pay me back when you've got your business back on its feet.  Then we can get back to a normal life." Sideswipe couldn't help but smile at his brother's optimism.  
  
"Yeah, sure," he said. "Normal life.  Sounds like fun.  What's normal again?" Sunstreaker made an exasperated noise and took a playful swipe at his brother before his spark-image shimmered into nothingness.  Sideswipe was left with an aching feeling of loneliness, until a quick touch across their bond reminded him that Sunstreaker wasn't far.  And suddenly, Sideswipe was the one hauling Inertia through the streets, eager to get back to his brother, to gather their things and get out of this Primus-forsaken city and back to a normal life.


	2. Still Free

"What do you mean we can't get in unless we're authorized? It's the _bank."_ Sideswipe said incredulously as he stared at the hulking mech in front of him.

"This building has been claimed by the Decepticons. Non-Decepticons are not allowed inside without proper authorization," the mech replied flatly, one hand fingering the massive blaster at his side as he eyed the twins suspiciously.

"Well how do we _get_ proper authorization?" Sideswipe asked irritably.

"Join the Decepticons," the mech replied instantly, and Sideswipe gaped up at him.

"You're joking," he said, but the mech stared back impassively. "You mean to tell me, that in order to get my credits out of the bank, I have to join the Decepticons?!"

"Correct," the mech replied.

"Forget that!" Sideswipe growled, throwing his hands in the air and stalking away, Sunstreaker just behind him.

"There's other banks in the city. I'm sure one of them isn't under Decepticon control, Sides. We'll keep looking," the golden twin said, his smile reassuring as he rested a hand on his brother's shoulder. Sideswipe smiled back and grudgingly admitted that there might be, and so they transformed and sped off to the next bank.

A joor later, the twins had to admit defeat, retreating to their home for the evening.

"I can't believe it. They've seized _all_ the banks," Sunstreaker said as he flopped down on the couch with a groan. "Now how are we going to get out?"

"You're not," a weak voice said, and the golden twin jumped to his feet as Inertia came staggering out of their washrack. She'd obviously tried to clean herself up, but the damage was evident.

"Primus! What happened to you?" Sideswipe asked, moving to support her. Carefully, he lead her to the couch and helped her sit down, while Sunstreaker hurriedly fetched some energon from the dispenser.

"I thought you were leaving the city," Sunstreaker said as he handed it to her, his voice only slightly wobbly as he took in the extent of her damage. Her plating had been ripped in numerous places, exposing the wiring underneath, and sparks came from inside some of the tears. Energon was leaking from somewhere underneath her helm, leaving an iridescent trail down her chassis. Worse were the scorch marks, around where some of her armor had actually melted. It was impossible not to realize that she'd been shot at.

"I was," Inertia said, grimacing, then took a sip of the energon. "I got there just as the Decepticons shut the gates. They aren't letting anyone in or out. A few of us tried to get past, but they opened fire. I was one of the lucky few to survive." Sideswipe cursed.

"They've closed the banks and now the city. Do they mean to recruit or kill everyone in Kaon?" the red twin growled.

"Seems like it," Inertia replied with a sigh. "Word is that they aren't killing non-Decepticons yet, but they're denying them access to almost everything. Even the energon reservoirs."

"But they can't do that!" Sunstreaker blurted out. "That's...that's just cruel! Without access to the reservoirs, mechs will be falling offline from lack of energon within an orn!"

"Earlier, for the less well-off," Sideswipe said grimly, standing. "I think it's time to see what the news networks have to say."

"You'll get nothing but Decepticon propoganda," Inertia said.

"I know," Sideswipe said as he went to the comm panel and turned it on. It didn't take long to find a news network - there was only one channel in Kaon now - and then he returned to the couch with Inertia and Sunstreaker to watch. On the screen, a silver mech was making a speech, preaching about equality and energon for all. His words were pretty, and the crowd in front of him was cheering, but Sideswipe couldn't help but notice the fusion cannon attached to the speaker's arm, and the weapons of the other mechs arrayed behind him on the platform. Sideswipe shook his head with disgust and turned it off.

"I told you," Inertia said with a shrug.

"How did it get this bad so quickly?" Sideswipe asked sadly.

"It was this bad for a long time," Inertia said with a sigh. "It just needed a mech like this Megatron to take advantage of the situation."

"I suppose so. The question is, what are we going to do now?" Sideswipe said with a sigh.

"We could wait for the Autobots to come," Sunstreaker offered, then motioned to the apartment around them. "Blackspot knows us, he won't kick us out." Sideswipe and Inertia exchanged glances.

"Blackspot may not have a choice. And I wouldn't count on the Autobots," Sideswipe told his brother gently, and Sunstreaker frowned.

"Why not?" he asked.

"The answer to both was just on that screen," Inertia said with a bitter laugh, waving vaguely towards the comm screen.

"The Autobots couldn't really be stopped by the Decepticons, could they?" Sunstreaker asked with a frown.

"If Megatron keeps gathering followers like he has been, the Decepticons will soon outnumber the Autobot security forces. And they're much better trained than the Autobots, simply because they come from Kaon if nothing else," Sideswipe answered, grimacing as he felt his brother's dismay over their bond.

"The best thing you can do for now is stay put," Inertia said with a sigh as she set down the empty energon cube. "I'll return to my apartment and do the same. I just stopped here first to use your washracks and to warn you."

"Maybe you should stay," Sideswipe said, standing as she did. He couldn't help but notice that the energon leak under her helm hadn't slowed, though the sparks from exposed wiring had lessened. "I'd rather keep my friends close right now, and you're in no condition to get yourself home." Inertia shook her head.

"My designation and appearance have probably already been circulated to the Decepticon troops as a troublemaker. You don't want me to stay," she said, then glanced down at her damaged body. "And this looks a lot worse than it is. The energon and a few breems to let my repair systems work has already done wonders. I'll be fine." The femme neatly side-stepped Sideswipe and headed for the door, patting Sunstreaker on the shoulder and murmuring a goodbye as she passed him.

"Call us if you need anything. At any time," Sunstreaker said, turning to watch her go, and Inertia acknowledged the offer with a wave over her shoulder. Once the door closed behind her, there was a pause before the golden twin glanced up at Sideswipe, who was still staring intently at the door. He made an exasperated noise. "If you like her _that_ much, you should've just seduced her. That would've gotten her to stay."

"Right, with you in the room?" Sideswipe asked with a snort, turning to eye his brother. "Besides, she's an excellent assistant, and when we get out of here, I don't want to have our working relationship ruined."

"Funny, most mechs would call that an improvement to a relationship with a femme," Sunstreaker said thoughtfully.

"Oh mute it," Sideswipe said with exasperation, and Sunstreaker cackled as his brother stomped off to the washracks.

\---

It was less than two joors later when the twins heard shouting out in the streets, and with a glance out the window, Sideswipe told his brother to pack up his paints.

"Why? What's going on?" Sunstreaker asked, curiously looking around the edge of the painting he was working on. In response, Sideswipe showed him what he'd seen down in the street - mechs with Decepticon markings pulling other mechs and femmes out of buildings, herding them off somewhere. Sunstreaker packed quickly, while Sideswipe gathered what little else they had that could be of use, and filling his subspace with energon from the dispenser. He had a feeling energon was going to become very hard to come by very soon.

The twins didn't wait for the Decepticons to haul them out of their home, instead slipping out and heading off down the back roads towards Inertia's apartment. It wasn't all that difficult to avoid Decepticon patrols - and even then, there was no reason to stop them. Inertia opened her door and hurriedly motioned them inside when they knocked, and once the door was closed, she gave them both hugs. Sunstreaker smirked over her shoulder at Sideswipe when he noticed that she held onto his brother just a little longer. Sideswipe glared back.

"I'm glad you two are safe. When I heard what they were doing, and where, I feared the worst," Inertia said when she pulled away, motioning for them to sit down. Her main room wasn't quite as large as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's, but it had enough furniture to seat them all comfortably.

"What _are_ they doing?" Sideswipe asked curiously as he and his brother sat on the couch, Inertia taking a chair across from them. "All we saw were mechs and femmes being taken from their homes."

"Forced recruitment," Inertia said with a sigh. "You either join them, or you and your loved ones die."

"Can't they get enough troops willingly?" Sunstreaker growled, and Sideswipe could sense how incensed he was at the idea. The red twin hid a smile - his brother had always seen the world as a paradise. His artist's optics somehow made everything beautiful, stopped him from seeing the flaws. Even when he walked through the poorer sections of Kaon, Sunstreaker only ever saw the beauty - the younglings having a good time playing tag, the mechs and femmes on the street laughing and chatting with friends, the faded paint a sign that there needed to be more artists about, and those that were running low on energy had obviously just come off shift or were on their way to an energon dispensory. He didn't see younglings whose creators couldn't afford for them to get an education, because they had no jobs, no credits to make themselves look good enough to get a job, and barely surviving on the minimum energon rations everyone was entitled to.

"They've got all the troops they're going to get willingly in Kaon," Inertia said, bringing Sideswipe back to the conversation.

"But they need more to expand their influence," the red twin guessed, and Inertia nodded.

"They haven't been able to allow anyone in for fear of Autobot infiltration, so they have to get enough troops out of Kaon to fortify their position before they go looking for the groups outside that are rumoured to have joined the cause," she said, then hesitated. "Some of us in the city have decided to do the same thing."

"What do you mean?" Sideswipe asked warily.

"Well, the Autobots can't get in to get us out, so a few of my friends and I, along with others, have decided to form our own Autobot resistance inside Kaon," Inertia said tenatively. "I'm only telling you two because I thought you might be interested." Sideswipe glanced at Sunstreaker, who was frowning.

"We'll...think about it," Sideswipe said, hiding his horror at the thought of his gentle brother picking up a weapon and fighting anyone. He couldn't recall Sunstreaker ever fighting physically, even for play as a youngling. He didn't want his brother to start now - or ever. He didn't want Sunstreaker's perfect world shattered.

"That's all I ask," Inertia said with a nod, then motioned around her. "In the mean time, my place is yours. Make yourselves at home."

"That's a dangerous proposition to say to an artist," Sideswipe said dryly, and Sunstreaker glared at his twin. Inertia laughed.

"I think I've been at your place enough that I'm used to the smell of his paints," she said.

"Yeah, but have you tried recharging with that smell permeating everything?" Sideswipe said with a grin.

"You don't seem to have any problems anymore," Sunstreaker retorted.

"Yeah, _anymore,"_ Sideswipe said, stressing the important word. "It takes awhile to get used to, bro."

"Whatever," Sunstreaker said with a sniff. "I'm not exactly in a painting mood, anyways." With that, the golden mech pulled his large sketchpad and a drawing utensil out of subspace, curling up as he began sketching. Sideswipe chuckled, then turned to Inertia.

"You seem to be very informed about what's going on these days," he commented.

"It's not hard to find out what's going on if you know who to ask," Inertia said with a smile that turned teasing as she continued, "And unlike a certain pair of twins I know, I don't spend most of my time with my CPU in the stratosphere, thinking of art and profit."

"I'm not that bad, am I?" Sideswipe asked in surprise, and Inertia nodded, grinning.

"I hate to tell you, but you are your brother's twin, Sideswipe," she said. "There were days when I came into your office and you started rambling about this import and that export and it was exactly like listening to Sunstreaker go on about lighting and texture." Sideswipe grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry."

"Oh, don't apologize. You're good at what you do, both of you. That entitles you to a few eccentricities," Inertia said with a laugh, then suddenly sobered. "I just hope I get to listen to it again."

"Me too," Sideswipe said softly after a moment, their optics meeting, unsaid words lingering between them.

 _::Just interface with her already,::_ Sunstreaker said over their bond, completely ruining the moment for Sideswipe, and without breaking optic contact, the red twin swung a hand out and smacked his brother's leg. Inertia arched an optic ridge, then giggled, and the moment ended as Sideswipe turned to glare at Sunstreaker, who continued sketching, seemingly oblivious if not for the grin on his face.

\---

It took another two cycles before the Decepticon's forced recruitment reached Inertia's place, but by that time Inertia and Sideswipe had pooled their resources and found a new place. It was small, dingy, and dirty, but it was in the slums of Kaon, which the cons seemed to be ignoring. Sunstreaker, however, was less than impressed.

"It's _dirty,"_ he complained, refusing to sit even a joor after arriving.

"It's the best we could get and be garaunteed safety," Sideswipe replied patiently.

"Before this is over, you'll see a lot dirtier," Inertia commented.

"It'll ruin my paint job," Sunstreaker retorted.

"There's no patrons here to impress, Sunny, and there won't be for awhile. I think your paint job can handle a little dirt for now," Sideswipe said with a sigh. His brother had always been concious of his appearance - he'd had to be, considering he mingled with the richest mechs and femmes to sell his paintings. Sideswipe, however, had always thought that Sunstreaker's obsession over his looks was just job-related, just to make sure that he continued getting high-paying commissions. As Sunstreaker just gave him a look and remained standing, however, Sideswipe wondered if perhaps he'd been wrong in this particular case.

"Fine, whatever," the red twin said with a sigh. He wasn't about to argue with his brother over so minor a thing. Sunstreaker remained standing until his energy levels became low enough that he had to give in and lay down on the recharge berth, but he refused to use any other piece of furniture, and was whining every morning about scratches and dust on his paint job. After only a few cycles, Sideswipe wanted to strangle his twin. A casual comment from Inertia, expressing her admiration for Sideswipe having put up with this for so long, made Sideswipe stop and think a little more about his brother's new behavior, though.

More than Sideswipe had, Sunstreaker had lost everything when the Decepticon's rebellion broke out. He used to travel around Cybertron, painting for the wealthy that the Decepticons so despised. But trapped in Kaon, with the local wealthy most likely dead, Sunstreaker had nothing - nothing to do, no friends in the city that weren't likely already dead, and no prospects for the foreseeable future. Was it any wonder that he was trying to hold onto something of his old life, something that was a symbol of what he had done, and was now a symbol of his hope that he could one day return to it?

After that realization, Sideswipe let his twin complain. Because as long as Sunstreaker still whined about his appearance, Sideswipe knew his brother still had hope of returning to his life from before. And as long as his brother had hope, Sideswipe could put up with any amount of whining.

Besides, Sideswipe had other things on his CPU to worry about - like Inertia coming back more and more often with blaster burns. Sideswipe always patched her up, and Sunstreaker would paint over the scorch marks, but the red twin couldn't help but worry for the femme. He didn't want her to get hurt - or Primus forbid, killed - even if she was causing trouble for the Decepticons.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing," she said whenever Sideswipe brought up the subject. She never said anything else, but Sideswipe could fill in the blanks, and guilt about how he and his brother simply hid in the apartment cycle after cycle ate at him. So when Inertia casually asked Sunstreaker, one cycle when he was painting over her newest collection of scorch marks, if he'd consider doing the same for other resistance members, Sideswipe encouraged his brother to say yes. Sunstreaker, eager to put his painting skills to use again, didn't need much convincing.

Soon enough, Inertia was bringing other mechs and femmes back with her to let Sunstreaker touch up their paint jobs. There was never more than two or three at a time, depending on the severity of the scorching, and at Sunstreaker's request, they often brought paint. It didn't matter if the paint matched their own coloring or not, as long as they brought more for Sunstreaker to use eventually. Naturally, with all the painting going on, it didn't take long for the apartment to start stinking of the substance, driving Inertia, and even Sideswipe, outside, despite the risk of Decepticon air patrols.

"Thank you, Sideswipe, for encouraging your brother to do this," Inertia said one cycle as they both waited outside for Sunstreaker to finish with the last mech of the night and the fumes to disperse a little.

"He didn't need much convincing," Sideswipe said with a shrug. "And it was the least I could do. Literally." The last was said with slight bitterness, and Inertia turned to give him a serious look.

"Don't, Sideswipe. Not all of us are fighters, and part of being an Autobot is understanding that and protecting those that aren't," she said. "What you've done helps, and that's all I or any other Autobot will ever ask."

"You speak like you're actually in the Autobot army, and not just part of an unofficial resistance," Sideswipe said with a small smile. Inertia smiled back, a twinkle in her optic that made Sideswipe's jaw drop. "You have contact with the Autobots outside!"

"No, but we have something almost as good. An Autobot special ops agent snuck into the city after the Decepticons closed the gates," Inertia said. "We're a fully sanctioned Autobot resistance, with a promise of back-up if we can weaken the Decepticons enough to allow an offensive strike to succeed."

"Congradulations," Sideswipe said with a laugh.

"Now there's a sound I haven't heard in awhile," Inertia said teasingly, and Sideswipe gave her a curious look. "You, laughing. Even Sunstreaker can't seem to get more than a smile out of you these days."

"Not much to smile about, let alone laugh," Sideswipe said with a shrug, then grinned widely. "But if it makes you happy, I'll try and find reasons to."

"Good. I've missed your laugh," Inertia said, smiling fondly at Sideswipe. The sound of the door opening behind them moments later made them both just, and they turned to see the mech Sunstreaker had been painting stepping out, evidently done.

"That brother of yours has a real talent," the mech, who had introduced himself as Voltage when he arrived, said to Sideswipe with admiration.

"If you think your paintjob is something, you should see some of his actual paintings. They'll make your spark ache at their beauty. And I'm not just saying that because he's my twin," Sideswipe said.

"It's too bad the ones here in Kaon were probably destroyed in the Decepticon's initial attack," Inertia commented.

"Yes, it would have been nice to see what an artist as talented as Sunstreaker could do with a real canvas," Voltage said with a smile, and after a few more pleasantries, the other mech said goodbye, leaving Inertia and Sideswipe alone again. The two of them sat in companionable silence for a few more breems, just to let the paint fumes clear out some more, then went back inside.


	3. Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mention 'unreactive energon' in this chapter. Think of it like the Cybertronian style of dried blood - the energon has left the mech is belonged to, and sat out so long that it's now become essentially useless. As I see this, it would only happen with energon that came from inside a Cybertronian, where a reactive process has been started in order to help convert said energon into useful energy for the Cybertronian. Energon that has not been inside a Cybertronian could, in my little universe, sit out for days and retain all of it's natural reactive properties.

"Hey bro, would you say the crystals in the east wing of Iacon's crystal gardens are more purple or violet?" Sunstreaker asked absently, and Sideswipe looked up from where he was reading one of the few recreational data-pads Inertia had managed to get for them and gave his twin an incredulous look.

"You're asking me?" he asked.

"Oh, right, I forgot, I got all your color sense," Sunstreaker said with a smirk, and Sideswipe shook his head before returning to the pad. "So when are you going to let Inertia know you're interested in her?"

"I told you, I don't want to ruin our working relationship for when we get out of here," Sideswipe replied without looking away from the pad.

"Hate to tell ya, Sides, but I don't think she's going to go back to being your assistant once we get out of here," Sunstreaker said. "She seems a little caught up in this Autobot resistance thing."

"You think she'll sign up officially when she gets the chance?" Sideswipe asked, setting the data pad down carefully and looking at his brother curiously. Sunstreaker never got the chance to answer, however, as the door suddenly exploded into the room. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both instinctively dove for cover as mechs began pouring into the room. Oddly, however, none of them started firing, and Sideswipe almost peeked over the back of the chair he was hiding behind to see just what they _were_ doing when a set of heavy footsteps began approaching. The owner of those footsteps stopped just inside their apartment, and for a moment there was silence.

"You have one chance to surrender, or we will take you by force," an oddly familiar voice declared, and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker shared their confusion over the bond - they'd never heard of Decepticons offering surrender before. It could have been a trick, but with the number of mechs that they'd heard enter, why would the Decepticons need to trick them? They could easily blow them away.

 _::Maybe,::_ Sunstreaker suggested over the bond, : _:They don't want to kill unarmed mechs.::_

 _::They're Decepticons,::_ Sideswipe replied. _::I don't think they care if we're armed or not.::_

 _::Well we don't exactly have any other options,::_ Sunstreaker said. _::We can fight and die, we can surrender and it's a trap and we die, or we surrender and it's not a trap and we're forced to sign up, and shortly afterwards, we die because we can't fight.::_

 _::True,::_ Sideswipe said thoughtfully. _::So do we wanna die now or later?::_

 _::I'm in favour of living longer,::_ Sunstreaker said.

 _::Surrender and hope it isn't a trap, then,::_ Sideswipe said, then spoke out loud, "Alright, we surrender."

"Then stand up slowly, and don't try anything," the Decepticon said, and slowly, Sideswipe turned and stood, careful not to move very quickly. He couldn't help but stare in surprise as he saw the mech that had offered them surrender - and wonder what in Primus' name they had done to deserve the special attention of the leader of the Decepticons. "Ah, finally, the illustrious twins I keep hearing about," Megatron mused. "I hear you're the last non-combatants in all of Kaon." Sunstreaker and Sideswipe exchanged looks.

"We wouldn't know," Sideswipe finally said.

"No, I imagine not. You've kept yourself very well hidden...at least until you decided to help out the pathetic Autobot resistance," Megatron said with a smirk, and Sideswipe couldn't stop a growl as Voltage stepped into the apartment.

"I should've painted you neon green," Sunstreaker spat, and Megatron chuckled.

"Ah yes, there is potential there," he said cryptically, then motioned to the Decepticons on either side of him as he turned to leave. "Bring them."

\---

"Funny how they put us in the same cell," Sideswipe mused as he lay on the berth in the small room. He was fairly sure they were in what used to be the brigs of Kaon, though with all the construction and destruction around, he couldn't be precisely sure. It was obvious that Megatron was rebuilding the old Autobot headquarters, the government buildings, and the city police compound into something else, but Sideswipe hadn't a clue what.

"Maybe they know that putting us in separate cells wouldn't do anything but make us a bit irritable," Sunstreaker said with a shrug, turning from where he'd been looking out through the bars of the cell.

"Yeah, but if they were going to interrogate us, they'd want us to be off-balance in any way possible," Sideswipe commented.

"True, but if they've got Voltage feeding them information, they probably don't need to interrogate us. You heard Inertia when he came - he's pretty important in their resistance," Sunstreaker replied.

"Yeah," Sideswipe said with a frown. "We need to find a way to warn them about him."

"How?" Sunstreaker asked dryly. "We can't exactly ask for access to the nearest communications console to call her up. Slag, we wouldn't even know what frequency to use."

"Still. We should try," Sideswipe replied.

"First chance we get," Sunstreaker agreed. There was a long pause. "I wish they hadn't taken my painting supplies."

"I'm glad they did. It stinks enough in here already. What is that smell, anyways?" Sideswipe asked.

"That would be unreactive energon and coolant," a matter-of-fact voice informed them, and Sunstreaker whirled back around as Sideswipe sat up. In front of their cell was an oddly bulky femme, flanked by two large, burly, and not very bright looking mechs. Sideswipe would bet a year's worth of his old profits that they were drones, outlawed since the last war but apparently perfectly acceptable under Megatron's rule. "My name is Darkdagger. You may call me Lady Dark, however."

"Like frag," Sunstreaker said flatly.

"You protest now, but you will come to give me the proper respect," Darkdagger said icily, optics flashing, then reached forward and waved her hand over the lock on the door. "Bring the red one," she said, stepping back, and the two drones opened the door and pushed inside, brushing aside Sunstreaker when he tried to stop them, and grabbed Sideswipe off the berth. Sideswipe planted his feet, trying to brace himself, and Sunstreaker tried to stop them, but in the end, there was nothing either of them could do as the drones hauled Sideswipe out of the cell and shut the door in Sunstreaker's faceplate.

"What do you want him for?" Sunstreaker demanded as Darkdagger began to walk away, the drones following with Sideswipe. The femme just glanced over her shoulder at him and smirked, then continued on her way.

 _::At least she can't_ really _separate us,::_ Sunstreaker said over the bond, and Sideswipe smiled faintly as his brother's form appeared beside him.

 _::Can't separate twins. Not even for an instant,::_ Sideswipe said, a mischievous twinkle in his optics as he remembered the number of times the two of them had used their bond to bypass rules or punishments. But in this case, Sunstreaker's illusory presence was only a silent comfort, neither of them having much else to say, as Sideswipe was marched through the cell-block - seeing dozens of other mechs and femmes in the cells he passed, most showing battle damage - before coming to a room covered from floor to ceiling in weapons and mods. Darkdagger picked her way around the room, eyeing various weapons, before finally picking out an energy sword. Another motion from her and the drones brought Sideswipe to the far side of the room, in front of another door. The energy sword was pressed into Sideswipe's hand, and then the door was opened and he was shoved through in one smooth motion, the door audibly slamming shut behind him.

The door wasn't the worrying part, however, as Sideswipe felt his energon freeze as he looked around at the room he now found himself in. It was circular and large - large enough that three of Sideswipe's largest warehouses could have fit in it without any trouble. The walls and floor were of a dull metal, scored and scorched by fire and energon, and stained with various mech fluids. Worst, however, was the roof - the roof was several hundred meters above, but Sideswipe could clearly see the fine mesh it was composed of, as well as the backwards image of himself, obviously being projected on the top. Sounds of a crowd filtered down from above, only confirming what Sideswipe had suspected.

Without warning, Sideswipe slammed closed the bond between himself and Sunstreaker - something neither of them had done since they were sparklings. But Sideswipe didn't want his brother to see this. Sunstreaker, whose most violent moments were kicking a piece of machinery when it didn't work, did not need to see what Sideswipe would have to do to get out of here. He didn't want his brother to see him kill for the first time - he didn't think he could if he knew Sunstreaker was watching. And he'd need to.

Because Gladiator fights, at least under Decepticon rule, were always to the death.

\---

Sideswipe felt numb as he walked between Darkdagger's two drones, not hearing whatever she was rambling so cheerfully about. He knew she was just going on about his fights, anyways. She'd come to compliment and coo over his unexpected ability in-between each match, and he'd quickly become sick of listening to her voice. Unfortunately, she evidently had an almost invulnerable personal force field, so even when he lost his temper and attacked her, it had done nothing. She'd just stood there and laughed.

And now, as they neared the cell where he knew Sunstreaker still sat, Sideswipe found himself numbed by the memories of what he'd had to do. Numbed by the energon and other fluids still splattered across his plating. Numbed by the panicked concern he could sense, dimly, through the bond with his twin, and knowing that he could never open that bond all the way again without exposing Sunstreaker to the horrors of the Gladiator's Ring. Numbed by the whispered promise of Darkdagger, that as long as he continued to fight like this, she'd see that his brother never saw the inside of the ring. How she'd known what Sideswipe would do anything to prevent, he didn't know, but as long as she kept her promise, he would fight. And with that thought, he found himself shoved into his cell, Sunstreaker instantly pulling him into a hug.

Sideswipe could feel Sunstreaker pressing against their bond, wanting to be let in, wanting to know, undeniably, that his twin was ok. But Sideswipe couldn't even meet his brother's optics, let alone let him into the bond, and as soon as Sunstreaker's arms loosened, Sideswipe stepped away, going to sit on one of the berths, where he pulled his legs up to his chassis and wrapped his arms around them, curling up to make himself as small as possible. There was silence from Sunstreaker, and then the golden twin sat next to him, put a hand on his knee, and remained silent. He trusted Sideswipe to talk about it when he was ready.

It was the first time Sunstreaker's trust in his twin was misplaced.


	4. All Fall Down

Orns passed for Sideswipe in a blur of fighting, recharging, and hiding from Sunstreaker. He eventually asked Darkdagger to put him in the cell across from his brother - separate, but still within sight. Sunstreaker, who had at first left him in peace, had then begun to bother him, then rant at him, but now...now he just watched his twin with sadness. Through the choked-off bond, Sideswipe could feel his brother's anguish over his distance. Over the fact that they hadn't spoken more than a few words to each other since Darkdagger first took him. Sideswipe might have felt just as miserable, but he was sustained by the fact that his distance, his fights, kept Sunstreaker from having to experience the same thing. From having his world shattered. The fact that he was doing this to protect Sunstreaker kept Sideswipe going.

Unfortunately, even Sideswipe had limits, and Darkdagger seemed intent on pushing them. It wasn't until almost three orns after Sideswipe's first fight that she found the bitter end of his abilities, however. Sideswipe knew from the moment the large triple-changer stepped into the ring and cycled through his two other forms - a tank and a bulkier version of a tetrajet - that he was slagged. This was it, this was the fight he couldn't win. At the back of his mind, he was already panicking as the fight began. His only chance was to stay out of the reach of the triple-changer, to out-maneuver them - but with that jet form, it was hard to keep ahead. He had to stay at just the right distance - too far and his opponent would transform into his jet mode and catch up in seconds, too close and he'd be blasted by the tank or grabbed and hauled into melee. Worse was the triple-changer's greater energy stores - he could fight for a lot longer than Sideswipe, even transforming as often as he did, simply because his energon storage units were larger.

Still, Sideswipe did his best, dodging this way and that, and was actually amazed when he managed to trick the triple-changer into smashing into a wall, where some of his armor managed to wedge itself into the metal. Disbelief swept through Sideswipe as he stared incredulously at the triple-changer growling as he tried to pry himself out of the wall. His back was left open, and there was a good chance Sideswipe could get in there and mess something up badly - maybe even kill the other mech - before he could free himself.

Unfortunately, in his elation, he let the block on his bond with Sunstreaker weaken...and his brother made use of it, forcing his way in. Sunstreaker's presence suddenly engulfed Sideswipe, and he staggered, falling to his knees in shock, only able to stare unseeingly at the triple-changer as Sunstreaker tore through his CPU. It wasn't painful, but it was demanding and insistent - Sunstreaker had had enough. He wanted his brother back, and was going to see just what was keeping him away. Sideswipe fought against him, trying to keep Sunstreaker from seeing, but he was brushed aside....and then Sunstreaker found his memories.

It felt like he lived the last three orns all over again in his mind as Sunstreaker went through each and every pit fight, saw what Sideswipe had to do, and heard Darkdagger's whispering voice explaining why. He watched himself become a brutal killer, merciless and efficient. Listened to the praise from Darkdagger - and felt the pain of separating himself from Sunstreaker all over again. As his brother finally drew back, Sideswipe didn't know what to expect - horror, sympathy, understanding maybe. Maybe an apology, and a withdrawal from his mind. Unlikely. Or the bond closed off completely, Sunstreaker declaring that Sideswipe was no brother of his.

He didn't expect the rage, building steadily and seemingly unstoppable. A thought, a memory flashed through Sideswipe's mind, and for a moment, he was being hauled away for the first time to the pits.

_::At least she can't really separate us,:: Sunstreaker said, his voice echoing as his image appeared beside Sideswipe._

_::Can't separate twins. Not even for an instant,:: Sideswipe's voice echoed back._

And then the rage boiling within Sunstreaker let loose, and Sideswipe's head snapped in the direction he knew his twin was in.

 _::No, Sunny, don't!::_ he cried out, both in his mind and out loud, but his twin ignored him, and before Sideswipe could press further, a large hand grabbed his arm and threw him against the wall. An even larger fist came in his direction, but Sideswipe managed to duck, and then scramble out of the way as the triple-changer reached for him again. He tried to put distance between himself and the larger mech so he could try and talk to Sunstreaker again, but the triple-changer followed him doggedly, not giving him a moment's rest - until the door through which Sideswipe entered the pit exploded outwards. Both fighters stopped, turning to look, and Sideswipe felt his spark growing cold at the sight of the mech stepping out of the doorway.

Covered in energon and coolant, barely any of which appeared to be his, and yet not carrying a single weapon, Sunstreaker looked like a psychopathic Decepticon soldier after a battle. The look he gave the triple-changer was cold and menacing, and Sideswipe knew without a doubt that he had to stop his twin, or lose him forever. As Sunstreaker charged, Sideswipe threw himself at his brother - and was brushed off.

By the time Sideswipe had gotten to his feet, Sunstreaker was already on the triple-changer, fists smashing into armored plating and ripping at anything they could. The triple-changer tried to fight back, but Sunstreaker was too agile, dodging out of the way, avoiding the grasping hands. Eventually the mech tried to transform, but Sunstreaker used that as an opportunity to mess up sensitive internals. The triple-changer screamed in pain, stuck between two forms, and Sideswipe started forward to stop his brother as he saw where Sunstreaker was heading next.

"Sunny, don't!" Sideswipe said, grabbing his twin from behind and pulling him away as the golden twin spotted what he'd been looking for - the triple-changer's spark chamber.

"Don't try and stop me, Sideswipe!" the golden twin snarled. "Or am I not allowed to do what _you've_ been doing for the past few orns? Am I not allowed to become a killer like my brother?"

 _"No,_ you're _not!"_ Sideswipe replied emphatically. "I have to be - _you_ don't. So let him be."

"No," Sunstreaker said, then with a flurry of movement which ended with Sideswipe on the ground, Sunstreaker freed himself. Time seemed to slow as Sideswipe watched his twin stalk over to the triple-changer, climbing up onto the mech to be able to get to the spark-chamber, and then his fist smashed down, and time sped up to its normal pace. Sunstreaker looked up and grinned as the mech he was standing on began fading to grey, and Sideswipe became aware of the roaring cheer of the crowds above.

Glancing up, Sideswipe could see images being projected on the ceiling, and he felt sick as he recognized the corridors between their holding cells and the gladiator ring, now dripping with mech fluids, with bits and pieces of bodies strewn throughout. He couldn't even feel the slightest bit of satisfaction as one shot focused on Darkdagger's grey helm, her body nowhere in sight. He could only look over to his brother with sadness, feeling nothing but deadness through their bond, and knowing that it wasn't because the bond was closed. Two mechs had died in this arena today - and one of them was his brother.

\---

Sideswipe had expected whoever replaced Darkdagger to keep him and his brother caged up, locked away, especially after the carnage Sunstreaker had done, and how easily he'd gotten out. But they didn't even return to the same cell block, instead being escorted out the other door of the pit by two guards that certainly _weren't_ drones, judging by the laughing congratulations and comments they sent Sunstreaker's way. They seemed convinced that he'd make a perfect Decepticon, but Sunstreaker, fortunately, ignored them. As twins, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe followed each other everywhere - it was pretty much a given that Sideswipe wouldn't go on a business trip unless Sunstreaker was free to come with him or had an art show, and vice versa. And if Sunstreaker joined the Decepticons, Sideswipe would have to follow, no matter how much he didn't want to, if only in the hopes that he'd someday be able to convince his brother to leave them.

The room through the other door was much different than the one Sideswipe was used to seeing. He'd thought both entrances to be much the same, but apparently they weren't. This one sported a neater collection of weapons, each with a lock on them, obviously reserved for specific mechs. One closed door presumably led out to the rest of the building, and two other doors, these ones open, led to a wash rack and what looked like a med bay. Three mechs waited for them in the main room, standing in front of the closed door, and the guards, unlike usual, backed off, leaving the twins to talk with the new mechs.

"I am Highblock," the mech in the middle, a hulking red and brown one that Sideswipe would've bet could've taken out everyone in the room without a problem, introduced himself, then motioned to the one on the right, who was just as big, and a deep crimson red with an orange medic's cross on his chest. "This is Triage, our medic." A casual glance to the one on the left, who was small and black with blue highlights, "And Rivet, our weapons trainer." All three of them had red optics, despite the lack of Decepticon symbols.

"I'd say it's nice to meet you, but I try not to lie," Sideswipe grumbled in reply, and Highblock smiled faintly.

"You'll be grateful for our meeting soon enough. You see, mechs only meet me when they've performed exceptionally in the gladiator pits," he said. "Which you most certainly have done today. I must say, I questioned Darkdagger's wisdom in having only one of you fight, but when I saw her dismembered corpse, I understood her reasoning. I wonder how she knew which of you to pick." The red and brown mech mused thoughtfully. "No matter. It worked."

"Today. It won't work again," Sideswipe snarled.

"No?" Highblock asked, amusement clear in his voice as he glanced between the two twins. "We'll see about that. For now, however, I'm sure you'd like to get washed up, and then Triage can see to your injuries before you're shown to your new quarters."

"You mean cells, don't you?" Sideswipe asked bitterly.

"No, I mean quarters," Highblock said with a chuckle, nodded briefly to them and then headed out. Rivet gave them a long, unreadable look before following Highblock, but Triage stayed.

"I'll be in the repair bay while you clean yourselves," he said coolly, then turned without another word and headed for the bay. His bearing seemed to indicate that he expected them to be _sparkling_ before he even _thought_ about repairing them. Not that Sunstreaker would mind, since as soon as Triage turned and left, the golden twin headed straight for the wash racks. Sideswipe hesitated, then hurried after his brother.

As they cleaned the dust and mech fluids off themselves, Sideswipe kept glancing over at Sunstreaker. He wanted to say something, anything, but he couldn't think what. Their bond was choked off in a way he'd never felt before, and he didn't know what to do about it. He didn't know how to close the sudden distance between them.

\---

Highblock's use of the term 'quarters' had, in fact, been accurate, Sideswipe discovered later. He'd expected some sort of fancy cell, and in a way it was, but he was surprised at the freedom the 'better' gladiators were allowed. There was a large complex on the other side of the Gladiator Pit, and though there were locked gates and doors preventing any of the gladiators from leaving said complex, they had pretty much absolute freedom inside. There were practice rings - with spectator stands above, Sideswipe noticed, though Triage informed him curtly that there were rarely any observers. The Decepticons liked to see energon flowing, and since Triage would only repair damage from _official_ fights, most gladiators took care not to injure themselves outside the Pit. The way Triage stressed 'official' made Sideswipe wonder how often unofficial fights happened, anyways.

Besides the practice rings, there were weapons ranges, engineering workshops, a mess hall, several large rec rooms with various types of entertainment - even a library - and the rest was mostly quarters, with a few offices for those running the show. Triage pointed out his own, Highblock's, and Rivet's offices, and informed them that asking for any other official before being approached by them was a very _bad_ idea. Finally, Triage led the twins to their new quarters, which he curtly informed them had been specially altered for them. His tone of voice implied that this was a special privelage that they should be grateful for. The quarters consisted of one common room, obviously a place where they could relax in private, and two smaller rooms with large recharge berths, and then a joint wash rack.

Oddly, they had one of the few windows Sideswipe had seen, and when he looked out, he saw a rather scenic view of what was evidently the new Decepticon headquarters, much more recognizable beneath all the construction now that it was a few more orns along from when Sideswipe had last seen it. With a sinking suspicion at that view, the red twin turned and saw that one corner of the common room had been well stocked with arts supplies - someone had done their research. Sunstreaker didn't even glance at the supplies, though, instead going straight to one of the smaller rooms with a grunt. Even as Triage was stepping out the door, Sideswipe could feel his twin powering down into recharge.

Quietly, though he doubted Sunstreaker would hear it, Sideswipe stepped over to the doorway his brother had disappeared through, and watched silently for a few moments as Sunstreaker recharged on the overly-large berth. Whether they were expected to entertain femme gladiators or sleep on the same berth, or if they just didn't have berths to right size for them, Sideswipe didn't know, but he doubted either or the first two would be happening. It might have actually been a good idea, for their mental state, for them to regress to their youngling years enough to sleep on the same berth again, but Sideswipe suspected he wouldn't be welcome.

Suspected. Not knew. That was painful. Even when he'd blocked the bond while he'd been fighting, Sideswipe had left the smallest part of it open, so that he could feel his brother's mood, and vice versa. Granted, that was what had scared Sunstreaker sometimes, feeling Sideswipe's mood as he was fighting, but Sideswipe couldn't block his twin out all the way. It just didn't feel right. But now he had no choice. _He_ was blocked out, nothing from Sunstreaker reached him, and nothing from him reached Sunstreaker. He could try all he wanted, but his brother had always been better at blocking their bond, stronger at resisting his brother breaking through the block. Or maybe Sideswipe just wasn't as strong as Sunstreaker when he tried to break through. Either way, there was no way he'd force Sunstreaker to open up to him again. He'd have to convince him. Somehow. And not lose himself or his brother in the process.

\---

Sideswipe woke the next morning to find Sunstreaker gone, and quickly set out in search of his brother. If anyone who knew them had been there, he would have felt like an idiot, searching for his own twin, but nobody was, so he strolled through the corridors acting as if it was perfectly normal to be searching high and low for the mech that held the other half of your twinned spark. Triage gave him an appraising look, obviously knowing the truth of the matter, but the stuck-up medic said nothing, simply gliding past with his olfactory sensor in the air, carefully avoiding touching anything more than the floor.

Finally, Sideswipe found Sunstreaker in one of the practice arenas. Destroyed practice dummies littered the floor around him, but the golden twin himself wasn't actually fighting right now, just standing there, scowling as he buffed out a scratch on his plating. Sideswipe's optics drifted upwards, to the spectator stands, and he found a mech actually sitting up there. He scowled faintly as he saw Rivet. The weapons trainer would be interested in what his newest trainees could do, obviously. And his presence made Sideswipe reluctant to approach his brother. Sideswipe grimaced as he realized that - what was his life coming to when he was reluctant to approach his own twin? It wasn't as if Sunstreaker would hurt him.

Steadfastly ignoring the mech above them, Sideswipe stepped into the ring, carefully stepping over the destroyed dummies. Sunstreaker looked up at the movement, paused in the middle of still trying to buff out the scratch.

"Sunny," Sideswipe said neutrally, almost warily.

"Don't call me that," Sunstreaker replied flatly.

"Sunstreaker then," Sideswipe said, trying not to wince as his brother objected to the sparkling nickname.

"We're going to need better armor," Sunstreaker said, turning back to his buffing. "Our plating isn't nearly thick enough."

"Darkdagger seemed to take amusement in it," Sideswipe offered. "Apparently found my dodging about trying not to be hit entertaining."

"I know," Sunstreaker replied. "But we're not built for agility, we're built for power and speed. If we're going to keep fighting, we're going to need better armor."

"I'd rather we didn't keep fighting," Sideswipe replied flatly, and Sunstreaker considered him coldly for a few moments.

"You really think we have a choice in fighting, brother?" Sunstreaker asked, and 'brother' sounded almost mocking. "If we don't fight, they'll take us back to the other side, back to the cells. Or they may just decide we're more trouble than we're worth and kill us. In the arena, of course. Let some other mech rip us apart. And I don't want to die quite yet, thank you."

"You're already halfway there." The words were out before Sideswipe realized what he was saying. He immediately grimaced, and out of habit, tried to reach over the bond to explain in thoughts and feelings what he meant, but he barely had time to recoil from the block before Sunstreaker replied - in a way just as unexpected as Sideswipe's words. For the first time that Sideswipe could remember, his brother, his twin, actually took a swing at him. It missed horribly, but Sideswipe staggered back in surprise anyways, staring in shock at his brother.

"And who's slagging fault is _that?"_ Sunstreaker snarled, then leaped at Sideswipe. Sideswipe, in shock from what Sunstreaker had just implied, did nothing to defend himself at first, but as warnings began popping up, he wisely began blocking - but he refused to hit back. He would not hurt his brother, even if it meant getting turned into scrap himself.

Fortunately, it didn't come to that - unfortunately, it didn't come to that because a furious Highblock showed up with a few drones and Rivet in tow. Clearly, the weapons trainer had seen the fight start and gone to get 'help'. Sideswipe glared furiously at the smaller mech as two drones held back a now-calm Sunstreaker. Highblock was ranting at one or both of them, Sideswipe wasn't sure, and he didn't really care. He didn't care about anything, in fact, Sideswipe realized suddenly. Nothing mattered now except for getting Sunstreaker back - though as he saw the glare his brother sent his way as the drones hauled him off to wherever Highblock had ordered them to, the thought crossed his processor that that might be impossible, though it was just as quickly dismissed. Highblock followed Sunstreaker and the drones out, and Sideswipe found himself alone with Rivet. The red twin scowled furiously down at the other mech.

"I didn't need your interference," he snarled.

"You'll excuse me if I don't believe ya," Rivet replied, the reached forward and poked a tear in Sideswipe's shoulder. He gasped, his optics shorting out for a moment as the pain overwhelmed his processor momentarily. "C'mon, let's get ya fixed up." Sideswipe grunted, eyeing the other mech with hostility.

"It's nothing lethal," he said. "Triage said he only fixed damage from official fights, anyways."

"Triage is only the _official_ medic. Most'a th'rest of us that have been around here awhile have learned how to fix a fair bit ourselves," Rivet replied, and motioned towards the door. Sideswipe eyed the other mech, and seriously considered turning him down, just heading back to his and Sunstreaker's quarters and repairing what he could before letting his repair systems do the rest. But then he realized that he was probably going to end up taking more beatings before he could get Sunstreaker back, and Highblock's parting shot had been something about him still having to fight tomorrow. So he might as well make use of Rivet's offer while he could - he still didn't have to like the mech, after all.

At his quick nod, Rivet actually grinned - the aft - and then practically sauntered out of the arena, and Sideswipe stalked after him, putting all his excess energy into trying to glare a hole in Rivet's helm. Fortunately for the weapons trainer, no one yet had been able to build a functioning optic that could also emit a laser strong enough to cut into Cybertronian metals.

Rivet ended up leading Sideswipe to his office, where he promptly closed and locked the door behind the twin. Sideswipe was only more suspicious at that, but Rivet just pulled out a med-kit and gave Sideswipe an expectant look. Sideswipe got the hint and sat in the nearest chair. Once he was settled, Rivet dragged a sidetable over and propped the med-kit up on it, then set to work fixing Sideswipe. It was somewhat uncomfortable for the first breem or so, since Sideswipe wanted to continue glaring at the mech, but his programming was telling him to be nice to the mech repairing him. In the end, he settled for sulking in the general direction of the wall and ignoring anything Rivet said that wasn't a request for movement so he could get at an injury better. Rivet, fortunately, didn't seem inclined to press Sideswipe. The only thing he said that wasn't related to fixing Sideswipe, in fact, was as the red twin was leaving.

"Highblock'll put Sunstreaker in a cell for a day or two, but after the way he fought yesterday, he won't take him out of the arena. And after this mornin', Highblock won't risk havin' the two of you in th'arena together. Having you two fight each other would be good sport, but he knows if he loses one'a ya, the other'll be right behind, whether they want to be or not," Rivet said without looking up from where he was packing away his tools. Sideswipe frowned, pausing in the doorway to Rivet's office, and the other mech looked up. "Just thought y'might want t'know that he'll be fightin' without ya." Sideswipe just growled in response and stalked the rest of the way out of the room, heading back to his and Sunstreaker's quarters


	5. Unbreak My Heart

Sideswipe could feel the moment Sunstreaker entered the arena. That much, at least, leaked through the bond. Unfortunately, though Sideswipe tried to go down and watch the match, he found that he was locked in his quarters. No matter how much he kicked and yelled, no one answered him or opened the door, and he was left to prowling about his and Sunstreaker's quarters, his attention focused on what little came through the bond with his twin, trying to determine how it was going, if his brother needed help.

As far as Sideswipe could tell, he didn't. The fight was over relatively quickly, and followed by two more before the sensation of violence coming through the bond ended. Sideswipe flopped into one of the chairs at that, and stared moodily at a spot on the wall.

Sideswipe felt nothing more across the bond for the rest of the day, and he felt strangely bereft...and lonely. It was an unusual feeling, and Sideswipe didn't like it. He was used to there always being someone else - Sunstreaker - there, listening in or bothering him. He eventually succumbed to just laying back on 'his' berth and mentally 'knocking' against Sunstreaker's block. Sideswipe knew pushing to get in wouldn't do any good, but maybe he could annoy his brother into opening up the bond. At the very least, it made him feel less alone, and more like Sunstreaker was in the other room, trying to ignore him and yet still being pestered.

Two guards came to get Sideswipe early the next morning, leading him to the arena, where he went through his own three arena fights. He came out relatively uninjured, but grudgingly admitted that Sunstreaker was right - if they were going to survive much longer in here, they needed better armour, especially since they were getting the tougher opponents now. He could protest all he wanted that he didn't want to fight, but that wasn't going to make Highblock stop assigning him fights. So, once he'd cleaned up and Triage had fixed him up, Sideswipe actually went to one of the engineering workshops to see about getting better armour. He wasn't the only one, either.

Sideswipe paused in the doorway, eyeing Sunstreaker warily. His brother, frozen where he'd been digging through some metal plating, looked back sourly. The golden twin seemed to decide that Sideswipe was no threat after a few moments, and turned back to digging through the pile. Sideswipe cautiously entered the room and looked around, unsurprised to find the tools for replacing armour already pulled out and waiting on a nearby table. How exactly Sunstreaker had planned on using them without help, Sideswipe didn't know. What did matter was the second bin of metal plating in the room, which Sideswipe went over to and began digging through.

The two twins continued digging through their bins in silence, each of them occasionally pulling out a piece of metal and putting it on the closest table. The silence was only broken when, after several breems, Sunstreaker tossed a piece of metal at Sideswipe. The red twin cursed as it hit him in his leg, and glared at his brother as he bent and picked it up, intending to toss it back, but with more force. Just as he was going to throw it, though, he realized it was a perfect piece to reinforce his back armour, and after a pause, he glanced up at Sunstreaker, who was apparently still staunchly ignoring him. Another pause, and Sideswipe placed the piece with the rest in his collection. Half a breem later, when he came across a piece that would be perfect for reinforcing Sunstreaker's helm - it was even partially yellow already - he tossed it in his twin's direction. There was muffled cursing as it bounced off the other mech, and then a thoughtful noise before it was added to the pile on Sunstreaker's table.

"Watch the paint job," Sunstreaker murmured without much rancour as he continued digging through his own bin. Sideswipe just smirked as he kept digging. It wasn't exactly progress, but it was something. It was enough that Sideswipe didn't feel the need to push when a welder was suddenly thrust under his face and he realized Sunstreaker wanted him to help upgrade his armour. He did so silently, and accepted Sunstreaker doing the same for him just as silently. He did make a noise of surprise when Sunstreaker refused to let him go after his armour was upgraded, and waved a can of paint threateningly in his direction.

"No brother of mine is going to go out in public with a paint job like that," the golden twin declared, glaring at his brother. Not willing to cross his brother, Sideswipe quickly returned to the table and let his brother give him a new coat of paint.

"Want me to get your back?" Sideswipe offered once he was done, giving Sunstreaker a curious look. The golden twin made a negative noise.

"I just did your paint. I don't need you getting yellow all over it," he said.

"I said _your_ back," Sideswipe retorted.

"And you'll get the paint all over yourself in the process," Sunstreaker replied dryly. "Thank you, but no."

"And how _else_ are you going to get your back?" Sideswipe asked.

"I'll think of something," Sunstreaker replied, turning his back on Sideswipe and readying the yellow paint in place of Sideswipe's red. It was a clear dismissal, and Sideswipe frowned. He wondered if he should just take the hint and leave, but it was becoming clear that Sunstreaker wasn't severing their ties as brothers, he was just...changing them. Sideswipe was still figuring them out, but he was pretty sure walking away now wasn't part of it. In fact, he suspected that the best thing to do would be...

"Ow!" Sunstreaker yelped as Sideswipe hit him over the head with his fist.

"Don't be a glitch," Sideswipe said as he took advantage of Sunstreaker's momentary distraction to grab the paint out of his hands. Sunstreaker snarled, but Sideswipe just motioned for him to turn around. The golden twin scowled, but did as asked, and Sideswipe quickly sprayed down his brother's back, being extra careful not to get the paint on himself - though a few drops did escape - and then set down the yellow and got the black instead. Less than a breem later, he was done with Sunstreaker, and after a quick survey of his hands showed more than a few yellow spots, he sprayed them down as well before setting the black paint down.

"There, you slagger. You can do the rest," he declared, and turned and walked out without another word. He didn't see the curious look Sunstreaker shot after him, a mixture of relief and regret, or he might have turned back and said more. But the look was gone in a moment, and Sunstreaker went back to fixing his paint job.

\---

Rivet was waiting for Sunstreaker and Sideswipe two cycles later when they stepped into the arena prepping room for their match that day. They were only scheduled for one, which was odd, but Sideswipe supposed that Highblock wanted to make sure that they wouldn't start tearing into each other. That was unlikely, however. Things hadn't exactly improved between them, but they'd...settled. They were acting more like partners on a security team that could barely stand each other than brothers, but they both seemed to have accepted that the other had changed and there was nothing they could do about it, and now they were just figuring out how they fit together. At least, that was the feeling Sideswipe got. Regardless, none of it really mattered right now, so long as they won this fight.

"Highblock wants me t'get ya usin' weapons," Rivet said as they stood in front of him, waiting.

"No," Sunstreaker said, and Sideswipe gave his brother a slightly incredulously, slightly curious, look. "I work with my hands," Sunstreaker said with a dangerous smile. Rivet arched an optic ridge at Sideswipe.

"I don't know how to use any of them, anyways," the red twin said flatly. Rivet shrugged.

"I can't say he'll be happy. Th'audience likes a bit of a show, not just mechs tearin' into each other. They get enough o'that on th'battlefield," the weapons trainer said, but stepped out of their way, hitting a panel to open the door. Sunstreaker made a non-committal noise and stepped through, Sideswipe right behind him.

For once, Sideswipe actually heard the fight being announced, and almost laughed at how they were played up as vicious twin killers. He wasn't sure if he was laughing because of how true it was, or not, but he couldn't quite hold back the grin. Sunstreaker gave him an odd look, then grinned in reply just as the far doors opened. Sideswipe's grin fell from his face as he saw the Autobot symbols painted clearly on the minis chassis', but Sunstreaker sent him a glare, and for one glorious moment, the bond between them opened.

 _::Did you really expect anything else? We were on their side, once,::_ Sunstreaker said in his mind, and then the bond closed again, though not so forcefully as last time. That brief moment of being able to feel his brother again gave Sideswipe a high better than the best high grade, and so it wasn't until the match began that he really registered what Sunstreaker had said, and he wondered, _are we not on their side anymore?_ Before he could think further, or ask his brother about what he meant, there were minis charging him, and he had to defend himself.

They were choppy and uncoordinated at first, unused to fighting with each other, but even with the bond closed between them, it didn't take long for the twins to learn how each other fought, and adjust accordingly. The minis, who started with the advantage, soon found themselves far outclassed. The first one died when Sideswipe and Sunstreaker managed to each grab a hold of one end and ripped him in half. The second went when Sunstreaker's fist slammed through the minis chest and spark chamber, and into the wall behind. The third went under Sideswipe's hands, and as he watched the Bot's optics dim and the rush of battle faded, the world coming back into focus around him, Sideswipe couldn't help wincing.

"I'm sorry," he said, too quietly for anyone other than the mini to hear, and he saw the flash of surprise before his brother was hauling him to his feet to accept the roar of applause from above them, a wide grin on his face. Genuine pleasure over the praise was on Sunstreaker's faceplate, and Sideswipe realized that this, more than anything, was the lure that made Sunstreaker able to fight. As an artist, he needed, craved, praise of his work. And in a way, the audience, applauding their match, was approving of their fighting - approving of their work. Praising them for it, even. It made Sideswipe's tanks turn unpleasantly as he looked back at the minis, but fortunately, his brother was too busy soaking up the praise to notice as the guards finally shooed them out of the arena, once again complimenting Sunstreaker and commenting on how he'd make a good Decepticon.

The post-fight cleanup went fast, and soon Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were tromping back to their quarters. Sideswipe was halfway into the room before he realized Sunstreaker had stopped in the door way, and turned to give his brother a curious look. Somehow, it wasn't surprising that Sunstreaker's gaze was locked on the art supplies in the corner of the room, and Sideswipe turned to look at the supplies as well. After a few moments of silence, Sunstreaker turned and left the room again, and Sideswipe debated whether or not to follow. Looking at the art supplies, however, Sideswipe decided it would be best to deal with the problem at its root.

Going over to the art supplies, Sideswipe was at first intending to just chuck them all into the nearest garbage disposal. Now, however, taking a close look at them for the first time, he realized they were more than just random supplies Highblock had had scrounged up. Picking up with of the large brushes that had a familiar blue stain on the end, Sideswipe wondered how on Cybertron Highblock had managed to get Sunstreaker's original supplies. It wasn't like he could go ask the mech, though, so instead Sideswipe began carefully packing it all up, mimicking the actions he'd seen his brother do so many times as he carefully stored it all in his subspace. The easel, regrettably, was just too unwieldy, and Sideswipe broke it in half before taking it to the nearest disposal.

When Sideswipe got back, Sunstreaker was sprawled in one of their chairs, newly located to the spot when the art supplies had previously been, reading a data pad. This time, it was the red twin who paused on the threshold of the room and eyed that corner of the room. Unlike his brother, however, Sideswipe didn't turn and leave, instead slowly entering and finding his own seat, all the time watching his brother.

"I know I have incredible good looks, but must you stare?" Sunstreaker muttered after a time, giving his brother a small glare. As harsh as the words were, though, Sideswipe could feel a slight softening of the block on the bond as Sunstreaker spoke, and the red twin grinned widely.

"Missed you too," he said, pulling his own pad out of subspace to read and ignoring Sunstreaker's scowl. He would be the first to admit that he'd like to have their old relationship back, but Sideswipe wasn't entirely adverse to this new dynamic his brother was creating between them.


	6. Never Gonna Leave Your Side

It seemed strange to Sideswipe, but for the next orn, the only real interaction he and Sunstreaker had was in the Gladiator Ring. They may be living in the same quarters, but they acted like they were alone, rarely speaking with each other unless the other was in their way. When they were in the arena, though, they couldn't ignore each other - instinct brought them to work together, and during their fights, the block on their bond always slipped just a little bit. Sideswipe came to look forward to the fights, as much as they horrified him, for that reason alone. In the Arena, he could have a little piece of his brother back.

Sideswipe wanted to try for more, of course - he wanted more than just a little piece of his brother every once and awhile. He couldn't see how, though. If he pushed, Sunstreaker snarled at him and stormed out of their quarters, hiding himself away somewhere. Leaving Sunstreaker alone got him nowhere, either, as his brother didn't seem inclined to come to him. So Sideswipe was stuck trying to find a way around things, but knowing it wouldn't happen without some outside help.

The help, unexpectedly, was thanks to Rivet. The weapons trainer hadn't stopped trying to get them to use weapons, showing up in the arena prep room before the start of each of their matches with a new weapon for them to have a look at or try out. Sunstreaker vetoed them without even looking at them anymore, though a few had caught Sideswipe's eye. He'd noticed they had a hard time in fights against aerial opponents, and had been looking for a ranged weapon. None of them seemed quite...right, however. This time, however, Rivet had apparently decided to try a different tack.

"'Fore y'say anythin', it ain't a weapon," the trainer said, then held out a boxy object with silver cylinders sticking out of the bottom.

"What is it?" Sideswipe asked curiously, though Sunstreaker dismissed it with a snort.

"Jetpack. Got enough fuel for a few microns of flight, but it'd be enough t'get ya to the top of the Arena. An' maybe back down," Rivet said, grinning slightly at the last part.

"Hmm. I don't suppose we're fighting any aerial opponents today?" Sideswipe mused, and Rivet's grin widened.

"Glad you asked. Seems we found ourselves with a couple of Seekers in needa a good beatin'," the weapons trainer said.

"Really now, imagine that..." Sideswipe mused, then glanced at Sunstreaker, but his twin was steadfastly ignoring him. Well, they didn't both need to have a jetpack. As long as one of them could get up there to get the Seekers _down,_ it'd be a great help. "How's it fit on?" Sideswipe asked, turning back to Rivet. The weapons trainer motioned for Sideswipe to turn around, and when the red mech did so, Rivet hoisted the jetpack onto his shoulders. A few flash-welds and some connected wires later, and Sideswipe could feel the sub-routine for opperating it unfolding in his CPU.

"There, that should do ya," Rivet said.

"You look ridiculous," Sunstreaker spoke up, though he appeared to be paying attention only to the Gladiator Ring, where another fight was taking place.

"Yeah, well, it's made for mechs larger than 'im. Come to think of it, y'may actually have enough fuel to get up an' down, since yer smaller," Rivet mused, then grinned brightly and gave Sideswipe a friendly slap on the back. "At any rate, have fun with it. Try not t'crash on your first flight, unless it's with a Seeker."

"I should have practiced with this ahead of time, shouldn't I?" Sideswipe asked wryly as Rivet headed for the door.

"Prob'ly," the smaller mech said with a snicker, then slipped out. Sideswipe sighed, then went to stand beside Sunstreaker to wait for their fight to start. Whoever was in the arena now seemed determined to drag their battle out.

"You really do look ridiculous," Sunstreaker commented after a moment.

"I'll rebuild the frame later if it's helpful. And then you can repaint it," Sideswipe said agreeably.

"Good," Sunstreaker grumped. It was the most engaging exchange they'd had in awhile, and Sideswipe was grinning when their fight finally came up. He heard the announcer above make a comment about how he apparently had some new weapon, and almost laughed at it, but sobered quickly as he saw their opponents - two Seeker models, just as Rivet had said. They had no faction markings, which Sideswipe almost found worse than if they had Autobot marks - at least he knew the Autobots had chosen to be involved in the fighting. The ones without factions were mostly neutrals, either unable to fight or trying to avoid doing so, and instead captured and tossed into the Gladiator Ring, where they didn't stand a chance. It wasn't as if Sideswipe and Sunstreaker could pick their opponents, though, so Sideswipe just readied himself for the fight.

The two Seekers, predictably, took flight almost immediately. They took turns strafing Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, but didn't land a single shot - the twins had gotten good at dodging aerial fire. The Seekers were too fast to be downed by the usual jump-and-grab the twins employed for aerial opponents, however, so after half a breem of their stalemate, Sideswipe decided to test out his new jetpack. He nudged Sunstreaker over the bond to let his brother know he was doing something new.

"If you crash and kill yourself, I'm tearing Rivet apart myself," Sunstreaker murmured to him before stepping away. The Seekers seemed to see this as an opportunity, both diving for the twins at once, and Sideswipe readied himself. The aerial barrage came, and while the Seekers were still turned away, being lazy about coming about when they thought they knew their opponents' abilities, Sideswipe whirled and activated the jetpack.

He wasn't expecting the sheer power behind it, and the vibrations it sent through his frame felt like they were either going to tear him apart or make him overload. It was hard to focus with that much power coursing through him, but a mental smack from Sunstreaker brought Sideswipe back to the arena, finding himself above the Seeker's flight path and on a course that took him even farther upwards. Belatedly, he realized he should have asked Rivet how to steer.

 _::Shift your back around to change the direction of thrust, glitch,::_ came Sunstreaker annoyed comment over the bond. 

_::It's not like I've flown before, Sunshine,::_ Sideswipe replied snippily even as he followed his brother's suggestion. He tried not to dwell on the sudden use of the bond, which Sunstreaker had been avoiding like it was Unicron himself. He could be happy that his brother was using the bond again later - right now, the Seekers were starting to turn, having heard the sound of the jetpack. Fortunately, Sideswipe was only moments behind, and slammed into the first of the Seekers before they'd managed to turn around. It was weird, having no ground beneath him as he grappled with the Seeker, and Sideswipe eventually flipped off the jetpack to help steady himself. Of course, then he got in a few well-placed kicks, and the Seeker's engines went off line. Sideswipe might have, maybe, screamed - just a little - through his bond with Sunstreaker as he and the Seeker tumbled downwards. Then Sunstreaker was reaching into his CPU and flipping on his jetpack for him, while Sideswipe flailed, pushing the Seeker away from him to crash to the ground.

 _::You are_ such _a glitch sometimes,::_ Sunstreaker grouched, but with how far into Sideswipe's CPU the golden twin had had to go to activate the jetpack, for once, Sideswipe could feel the affection behind the words.

 _::Y'know what? When you go flying for the first time in combat,_ then _you can insult my flying abilities, slagtard,::_ Sideswipe retorted, sure to let his own affection flow back in return. Surprise flitted across the bond before Sunstreaker yanked himself out, apparently having not realized how deep he was in Sideswipe's CPU. Which, as regretable as it was, was necesary, since they needed to focus on the fight. Sideswipe's jetpack was giving him low fuel warnings, and while the one Seeker was grounded, the other had retreated to the top of the arena, now watching Sideswipe warily. The red twin gave him a wolfish grin, aimed himself in the Seeker's direction, and took off. His opponent didn't stay still, naturally, and with Sideswipe's fuel running low, he couldn't exactly chase him. So instead, Sideswipe grabbed the mesh roof of the arena, cutting his jetpack with only a few seconds of fuel left. It wasn't enough to get down, but it might break his fall if he had to take the long way down.

Which, apparently, he might have to, since the Seeker still flying seemed to have decided Sideswipe was no threat anymore and had returned to buzzing Sunstreaker. Since the golden twin was trying to take out the grounded Seeker, the flying one was actually getting in a few hits.

 _::A little help down here, bro?!::_ Sunstreaker snarled over the bond.

 _::Yeah yeah, in a minute. I kinda like Rivet, so I'm trying to prevent him from getting dismembered,::_ Sideswipe replied distractedly, and not entirely untruthfully (the smaller mech was now indirectly responsible for Sunstreaker speaking to him over their bond again, after all), as he watched what was going on below and did some quick calculations. The arena was high enough that he'd have some time to maneuver on the way down, but not too much. The flying Seeker needed to be within a small area in order for him to hit them, and that was unlikely unless Sunstreaker could manage something. _::Hey Sunshine -::_

_::Could you not call me that!::_

_::- think you can get that flying petro-rat to circle around you, right beneath me? I'm gonna try and use him to break my fall,::_ Sideswipe said, ignoring his brother's interuption.

 _::How the slag am I supposed to do that?::_ Sunstreaker demanded.

 _::I don't know, think of something!::_ Sideswipe returned, and Sunstreaker growled over the bond. He didn't say anything more, but the next time Sunstreaker connected with the grounded Seeker, he was pushing them back, underneath Sideswipe. It took a quarter of a breem to manage, but finally Sunstreaker and the grounded Seeker were underneath Sideswipe. The flying Seeker was still all over the place, however.

 _::Hey, think you could pick up the killing?::_ Sideswipe asked on a hunch.

 _::Hey, think you could pick up the_ helping _?::_ Sunstreaker replied sarcastically, but his blows became heavier, his attacks more brutal. As Sideswipe suspected, the flying Seeker tightened his flight path, circling around Sunstreaker - and close enough for Sideswipe to hit with little maneuvering. The red twin grinned, and let go.

It was exhilerating and terrifying, falling from that height, without anyone or anything around to catch him. And Sideswipe loved it instantly. He barely noticed his whoop of glee until the flying Seeker looked upwards, and by then it was too late. With a devilish grin, Sideswipe quickly burned through the last of the fuel in his jetpack to lessen the damage to himself, then slammed into the Seeker's back. They dropped like a stone, hitting the ground with enough force that the Seeker's chasis crumpled underneath Sideswipe. He died almost instantly.

Sideswipe's triumph was cut short by the roar of anger from the other Seeker, and he turned in surprise to find the jet breaking free of his brother and making for him, murder in it's optics.

"You fragger!" the Seeker snarled as he tackled Sideswipe to the ground. They wrestled briefly, and somehow the Seeker ended up on top, pinning Sideswipe down and snarling in his face. "That was my _brother!"_ Sideswipe stared up at him in shock, and then the Seeker was thrown off him. Pushing himself to his feet, Sideswipe staggered upright beisde Sunstreaker, trying to get used to having solid ground under his feet again. When he looked up again, he met the optics of the Seeker, who was obviously leery now about attacking a united front, though revenge burned clear across his face.

"Yeah, and this is my _twin,"_ Sideswipe said flatly in a belated response. The Seeker stilled, glancing between them.

"Twin?" he asked.

"Since birth," Sideswipe replied dryly. The Seeker looked faintly amused, but the next moment the expression was gone, and he charged Sideswipe. He didn't get close, Sunstreaker cutting him off and slamming him into the ground. Sideswipe had seen his brother fight enough by now to know the Seeker wasn't getting away from him alive, and so simply stood and watched, his expression unreadable as he tried not to think about how much he didn't want the Seeker to die, as the end inevitably came. There was a curious pause, right before Sunstreaker made the final blow, when the Seeker seemed to say something, but then it was over, and Sunstreaker was standing up, flashing his usual grin up to the crowds before letting the guards escort him and Sideswipe out of the arena. Rivet was waiting for them.

"So, how was the jetpack?" Rivet asked as Sunstreaker made straight for the washrack - considering the beating the golden twin had taken while Sideswipe was flying around, Sideswipe suspected that for once, Sunstreaker's abhorence of dirt was not the only reason for the rush to get clean. The faster he was clean, the sooner Triage could begin fixing him.

"You mean how was _my_ jetpack? It was alright," Sideswipe said, keeping his tone light, not wanting to show how much the fight had affected him around one of the arena officials. Between Sunstreaker speaking to him over the bond, the slight invasion of his CPU to keep him from crashing, and the Seekers being brothers, he'd been thrown for a bit of a loop.

"I take it you'll be keepin' it then," Rivet said with a chuckle.

"Yep," Sideswipe said with a nod.

"Alrighty, turn 'round, then. I need t'make sure it's empty 'fore I can let y'leave with it. Though I'm pretty sure after that performance that it is," Rivet said with a grin as Sideswipe obligingly turned around. "Gotta say, that was quite a stunt."

"Yeah, well, I was lucky it worked. I'd probably be a splatter on the ground right now otherwise," Sideswipe said as Rivet checked to make sure the jetpack's fuel tanks were empty.

"Most likely. Right, yer good," Rivet said, stepping away, and as Sideswipe turned around again, the weapons trainer pointed to a tank in the corner of the room. "Fuel's in there, but don't be messy when y'refuel for fights, otherwise yer gonna have th'aerials out for yer energon."

"Got it," Sideswipe said with a nod. There were several fliers on their side of the gladiator ring, and Sideswipe didn't want to mess with any of them.

"Right, go get cleaned up then," Rivet said with a nod towards the washracks, then turned and trotted out. Sideswipe did as told, entering just as a sparkling Sunstreaker left, heading for Triage's repair bay. Fortunately, Triage worked fast, and by the time Sideswipe got out of the washracks, Sunstreaker was almost fixed. Sideswipe's repairs were minor, but it was still unexpected when Sunstreaker waited around for him to be finished. They went straight back to their quarters once Triage was done with Sideswipe - they both needed their paint touched up, and Sideswipe's jetpack needed it's frame reworked, but Sideswipe, at least, was feeling drained. The fight had taken more than the usual out of him, thanks to the unexpected flying lessons, not to mention all the emotional happenings.

Sunstreaker seemed equally unsettled, actually joining Sideswipe on their couch when the red twin flopped unceremoniously onto it with a groan. Sideswipe looked down in surprise as gold and black legs stretched across his lap, then reached out and poked one before turning to look at Sunstreaker. The frown on his brother's face was more troubled than angry, and Sideswipe decided to risk inquiring as to the reason.

"What's up, bro?" Sideswipe asked.

"Did you know they were brothers, before we went in?" Sunstreaker asked, sounding disturbed.

"You heard everything Rivet told me about them," Sideswipe said with a shake of his head. Sunstreaker nodded, letting his head fall against the side of the couch, apparently studying Sideswipe's face. Used to being the object of his brother's sketches, the staring didn't exactly faze Sideswipe, but it was unusual without drawing materials in the golden mech's hands. Not sure what else he could say, Sideswipe instead sent the equivalent of a mental hug over the bond. Sunstreaker twitched.

"Stop doing that," Sunstreaker said. Sideswipe arched an optic ridge at him.

"This is the first time in orns that the bond's been open enough for me to be _able_ to do that," he replied pointedly.

"I didn't mean the hug," Sunstreaker said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I mean the...affection. Every time you send something over the bond, it comes practically _drowning_ in it."

"Can't help the fact that I feel affection for you, bro," Sideswipe said with a snort. "You will always be my twin, and even if you weren't, I like you." Silence for a moment as Sunstreaker looked down at his hands.

"Even...after everything I've done?" Sunstreaker said, and in that instant, Sideswipe suddenly understood. With an angry growl, he shoved his brother's legs off his lap, stood up, and yanked Sunstreaker to his feet, so that they were face to face.

"After everything _you've_ done? Who the frag got us into this mess in the first place, huh? Yeah, I think that would be me. I was the one that went along with Darkdagger's little conspiracy, I was the one that convinced you to help out the Autobot resistance, frag, if you wanna get down to it, my business was the reason we stayed in Kaon when the trouble started. You've follow _me,_ Sunstreaker, and anything _you've_ done is my fault, not the other way around. So yeah, I still like you." Sideswipe finished his rant with a glare for his surprised twin before letting him go and stalking over to the window, needing to calm down. The fact that Sunstreaker thought this - _any_ of this - was his fault was almost horrifying for Sideswipe. Sunstreaker was, if anything, the victim here, and Sideswipe his torturer.

"It isn't all your fault either, bro," Sunstreaker said after a long silence.

"The slag it isn't," Sideswipe snapped back. A golden hand came to rest on his shoulder.

"We're in this together, Sideswipe. Whether we want to be or not," Sunstreaker said, sounding weary, and Sideswipe looked over at his twin.

"I'm just worried who we'll be when we come out of it," he said softly. _"If_ we come out of it." Sunstreaker looked away, out the window.

"As long as we have each other, we can get out of anything," the golden twin said finally.

"We just proved ourselves that isn't true," Sideswipe pointed out morosely, also looking out the window, images of the Seeker brothers flashing through his CPU.

"They were only brothers, Sideswipe. We're twins. Natural twins. The rarest type of Cybertronian in existance, even rarer than Supremes, than telepaths," Sunstreaker said, then looked over at Sideswipe. "And that bond makes us stronger than any opponent out there."

"Except Unicron," Sideswipe said with a slight twitch of his lip components.

"Pft, we could _so_ take him," Sunstreaker said dismissively. Sideswipe smiled faintly. It was...comforting, to hear his brother still had faith in him, despite everything. Sure, the bond wasn't open all the way, but Sideswipe doubted it ever would be again. And he...he could deal with that. There were things he'd done, thoughts he'd had, that he didn't want Sunstreaker to see, now, and he suspected his brother had the same. That didn't mean they loved each other any less, or that they didn't trust each other...they just knew that they each had their own burdens, their own nightmares and regrets, now, and that neither of them could handle both their burdens. So for their own sanity, they had to bear their own burdens. It drove them apart, and yet brought them together in a different way.

"I'm fragging exhausted," Sunstreaker broke the easy silence that had fallen first.

"It's been a rough cycle for both of us," Sideswipe said with a light chuckle.

"Yeah, so _I'm_ getting some recharge. Some of us need our beauty sleep," Sunstreaker said airily, taking his hand from Sideswipe's shoulder and stalking off into one of the bedrooms. It took Sideswipe a moment to realize he'd gone into the bedroom Sideswipe had claimed.

"Hey, that's my room!" he whined, following after his brother.

"Not anymore," Sunstreaker said calmly from where he was already laying on the berth, optics off. And carefully on the far side, leaving enough room for another mech. Sideswipe took the silent invitation - tomorrow Sunstreaker would be back in his own berth, but tonight his twin wanted the comfort of being near the other half of his spark, and Sideswipe wasn't about to deny his brother what his own spark craved.


	7. The Right of Sentient Beings

The orns after that passed surprisingly smoothly for Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. They were harsher, more aggressive than they were before, brutal in the arena, and they still fought with each other outside of it - physically as well as verbally, now - but they didn't shut each other out of their bond, and always backed each other up against other mechs. Highblock noticed it, too, smiling broadly around them, clearly pleased with himself. The twins ignored him, deciding it wasn't worth the punishment to disabuse him of his notion that he'd had anything to do with their resolution. Highblock wasn't the only one who noticed, either. The twins had gotten used to seeing Rivet every time they stepped into the ready room for the arena, but now he was conspicuously absent.

"Y'don't need me anymore," the mech said with a grin and a shrug when Sideswipe cornered him about it one day.

"What, you showed up with all those fancy weapons just because you were _concerned_ for us?" Sideswipe demanded.

"Sure, you two are th'most promisin' fighters I've seen since I signed on. It'll be awhile 'fore th'audience gets tired'a you two," Rivet said with a snort. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have other mechs t'whip inta shape." The weapons trainer slipped away at that, and Sideswipe let him go. Somehow he wasn't surprised that the only mech that had shown them any compassion since they got here had done so purely for 'business' reasons. And yet...something rang false about Rivet's reasoning, to both Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. They couldn't exactly confront him on it, though, and so let him be.

The twins did their best to survive in their new life, but it became more and more difficult as around them, gladiators started sporting Decepticon symbols. Highblock was still conspicuously free of a symbol, but Triage and Rivet both gained the purple insignia. It was hard not to notice, too, that the gladiators sporting Decepticon symbols had some way of leaving the complex - a thriving black market in outside goods had sprung up, including high grade, rust sticks, and various other comforts. More than once, Sideswipe of Sunstreaker saw a femme leaving the complex that obviously _wasn't_ gladiator or staff, as well. It seemed that as soon as a gladiator took on the Decepticon symbol, they gained special privileges - and their pick of fights. The twins had several fights against their fellow 'better' gladiators, most of whom they'd slagged off at some point. Fortunately, Sunstreaker had made a point of getting to know their fellow gladiator's fighting styles in an effort to improve his and Sideswipe's, and they defeated their opponents easily, for once gleefully taking them down. It was somehow more satisfying to kill a mech with the purple insignia on his chest, and the other gladiators quickly learned not to challenge the twins in the arena.

Of course, somewhere inside, the twins knew that it would be their turn soon. They hadn't discussed it, seemed almost afraid to. They both knew what the probable choices would be, and what their inevitable response would have to be. Still, it seemed the 'choice' was a long time in coming, and when it finally did come, they found out the reason for the delay.

"You're wanted," Triage's unexpected intrusion into their quarters made the twins freeze for a moment, staring at him.

"Where?" Sideswipe asked after a moment.

"Highblock's office," Triage said, and his grin was entirely unpleasant. The twins exchanged glances, then rose silently to follow him out. They realized something was up when two heavy triplechangers they'd never seen before, both with blatant Decepticon symbols and coloring, stepped in behind them - guards. As they neared Highblock's office, the number of posted guards increased, all new and a few familiar from the Decepticon propaganda Sideswipe had watched before they'd been captured.

 _::This is it, then,::_ Sunstreaker was the first to admit it.

 _::So it is,::_ Sideswipe said, feeling resignation set in. He felt Sunstreaker mentally preparing himself, and did his best to get used to the idea himself - but all preparations went out the window when they stepped into...well, what had _once_ been Highblock's office. It obviously wasn't anymore, considering that the mech himself was pinned to the wall behind the desk, chest torn open and spark chamber shattered. The wall underneath him might as well have been painted pink, it was coated with so much of his energon. It took Sideswipe a moment to drag his gaze away, focusing on the new occupant of Highblock's desk.

"Ah, so nice to see the illustrious twins again," Megatron said with dangerous politeness. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker said nothing in return, sharing the thought that this mech was the reason they'd been thrown in here, and feeling their rage against him rising. They barely noticed the Seekers arrayed on his right, or Rivet and Triage on his left. "As you can see, there's been a change of management around here. Highblock was, I'm afraid, too much of a neutral to continue in his current post."

"So you tore him open and killed him?" Sunstreaker asked tightly.

"Oh no, I gave him a choice - he could stop stalling me and ensure all his gladiators accepted their destiny - and indeed, accept it himself - or he could die. He chose the latter," Megatron said equably. Sideswipe felt his own shock echoed by Sunstreaker's - Highblock had seemed ruthless and vicious, a perfect Decepticon. Yet apparently he'd been the one protecting them from having to make this 'choice'. Involuntarily, Sideswipe's gaze flicked back to the corpse behind the desk, then quickly focussed on Megatron again. The Decepticon leader had apparently noticed his gaze however. "Astrotrain may have gone a bit overboard," the grey mech said with a dark quirk of his lip components.

"Regardless, I now offer the same choice to you - accept your destiny as one of the Decepticons, help free our planet from the tyranny of the Autobots - or I will allow Astrotrain to have some more _fun,"_ Megatron said the last with a malicious grin, and one of the triplechangers that had escorted the twins to the office giggled quietly.

"You come all the way down to the Gladiator Arena to offer us this?" Sunstreaker asked tensely, clearly stalling.

"As I said, a change of management was required," Megatron said in a business-like tone, motioning to the corpse behind him.

"I hardly think that required your _personal_ attention," Sunstreaker said coldly. "I'm sure _Astrotrain_ would have been _happy_ to take care of it himself."

"Very astute, Sunstreaker," Megatron said after a moment, looking thoughtful. "I see the Gladiator Ring has not dulled your processor. It is true, I could have let one of my lieutenants deal with Highblock. However, I've been particularly interested in you two every since I heard the rumours of your presence in our city. I'd heard about the bond between twins, and saw much... _potential,_ especially once I met you in person. Potential, I am happy to say, that you have lived up to quite nicely. So I wanted to come myself to make sure that all that potential wasn't... _wasted."_ Sideswipe could feel Sunstreaker struggling to keep his rage in check, knowing that attacking Megatron here, now, would be suicide, and not wanting to take Sideswipe down with him.

"I suggest y'two make th' _wise_ decision," Rivet spoke, drawing Sideswipe's attention to him, and the red twin noticed for the first time how the weapons trainer was standing a little taller, looking a little prouder...while Triage was almost sulking. It wasn't hard to guess who had gotten Highblock's suddenly vacant position. Sideswipe scowled at the smaller mech.

"It's not like we have much choice," he snapped, turning back to Megatron. The Decepticon leader looked annoyed at that response - if he _had_ been watching Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, he'd probably been thinking from their Arena fights that they were primed and ready to join up with the Decepticons. He obviously didn't know the meaning of 'doing what you had to to survive'.

"Oh you have a choice. I've heard the Matrix is quite a _nice_ place. Well, that's what an _Autobot_ priest told me once," Megatron said with a faint snarl. Sideswipe glanced at Sunstreaker, who was still glaring daggers at Megatron.

"One would think your entire _army_ would have turned on you with the way you _force_ most of them to sign up," Sideswipe said coldly as he turned back to the Decepticon leader.

"I may force them at first, but they soon come to understand the superiority of the Decepticons. You will, too, with time," Megatron seemed to be getting more irritated. Sideswipe suspected he couldn't put the 'decision' off for very much longer.

"I very much doubt that," Sideswipe snarled.

"Shall we try and see?" Megatron asked dangerously, and the red twin knew this was the last time the 'choice' would be offered.

"Fine," Sideswipe snapped. "Paint your fragging purple symbols on us. But we will _never_ understand the 'superiority' of Decepticons. You will never have our loyalty."

"We shall see," Megatron snapped in reply, pushing himself up from the desk. It was clear this discussion had not gone the way he'd wanted. "Triage, I leave them to you. Rivet, congratulations on your promotion." And with that, the Decepticon leader stormed out of the office, his guards following after him. The triplechanger that had giggled, probably Astrotrain, gave the twins a malicious grin, likely anticipating seeing them again soon.

"Come on you two," Triage snapped, coming to stand before them. Sunstreaker moved his glare to Triage, who glared right back. When the medic turned and headed out, though, they followed.

"Triage, could y'send someone up t'clean up this mess?" Rivet called after them as they left, and Sideswipe glanced back briefly to find the smaller mech already sprawled in the vacated seat, a pleased expression on his face. The red twin snarled - he must have been imagining that ring of falsehood to Rivet's excuse before. There was no way the mech was not exactly what he appeared to be - a cold-sparked Decepticon.

\---

It was unsurprising, after the reluctance Sideswipe and Sunstreaker had shown in taking on the Decepticon symbols, that they received none of the benefits the other gladiators did. They still couldn't leave the complex, and their fights were still picked for them. They didn't care. The other Decepticon gladiators learned quickly that they hadn't willingly taken the symbols, and steered clear of them. There were few other gladiators without Decepticon symbols, but they soon gained them, as well, and now took to staying close to the twins or each other wherever they went.

An obvious schism had developed, between those who had willingly taken the Decepticon symbol, and those that had been forced. The ones who were forced were clearly in the minority, and the willing Decepticons took great pleasure in slowly picking them off. It might have gone faster, had Rivet not done his best to discourage Decepticon vs. Decepticon fights, even if one of the 'Decepticons' was unwillingly so. Even with the tension, however, things...settled, as they usually did.

Something had to change eventually, however - all the gladiators knew that. Theories and rumours flew around - the Gladiator Arena was being closed and they were all going to join the rest of the Decepticons on the battlefield. It wasn't going to be closed, but the willing Decepticons were going to be freed and the unwilling sent back to the other side of the arena. Megatron was planning on having his troops use them all, even the willing ones, for target practice. Almost every possible option went 'round as 'guaranteed going to happen', adding to the tension that was already there. Almost every option.

The twins were getting ready for a match when the change began, though they didn't realize it at first, growling menacingly as Rivet himself, for once without guards, stepped into the prep room. It was unusual enough, now, for the twins to get a visit from any of the officials - Triage _barely_ treated them anymore, and then probably only under direct orders - but to have Rivet himself strolling into the prep room, without guards...well, it was an opportunity, and Sunstreaker half rose from his seat, glaring menacingly at the smaller Decepticon. The new arena manager eyed him warily, settling into a stance Sideswipe recognized as 'I may need to run really slagging fast really slagging soon'.

"Need t'have a chat with you two 'fore y'head out," he said.

"About what?" Sunstreaker grunted, sounding unimpressed.

"Bout a mutual friend'a ours," Rivet said.

"I hardly think we have any friends in common," Sideswipe said, looking pointedly at the Decepticon symbol on Rivet's chassis. No need for Rivet to point out that Sideswipe and Sunstreaker also had the Decepticon symbol on them - they all knew it was forced.

"Actually, accordin' to this femme, we have a lot more in common than y'know," Rivet replied with a small grin.

"The only thing we have in common is the color of the symbol on our chassis," Sideswipe snarled.

"I doubt that," Rivet said, seeming more amused. "The name 'Inertia' dredge up any memories?" Before he realized what he was doing, Sideswipe had the smaller mech up against the wall, his feet dangling off the floor as the red twin held him up by the front of his chassis.

"How do you know that name?" Sideswipe asked dangerously.

"Toldja, she's m'friend," Rivet replied calmly.

"Inertia would never be friends with a mech like you," Sunstreaker said from over his brother's shoulder.

"An' what exactly is a 'mech like me'?" Rivet asked.

"You know better than we do, _Decepticon,"_ Sideswipe snarled.

"Thas right, I do know better than you do," Rivet replied, and then to Sideswipe's surprise, a visor flipped down over Rivet's red optics. A very _blue_ visor. Surprised, Sideswipe let the smaller mech go and took a step back. Rivet, meanwhile, pulled something out of his subspace, which he tossed to Sunstreaker. The golden twin caught it and inspected it for a moment before cursing.

"How the _frag_ did you get in here?" he asked, handing the item off the Sideswipe. A quick glance told Sideswipe it was an ID chip, and then he did a double-take as it registered that it was an _Autobot_ ID chip.

"I snuck in right after the Cons closed off th'city. The Prime wanted an operative on the inside, an' I volunteered. I managed t'set myself up as part'a th'Gladiator Arenas an' then contacted the Kaon resistance. I've been workin' with 'em ever since," Rivet replied.

"I don't believe you," Sunstreaker said with a frown. "You probably stole that chip off an Autobot you killed."

"Sunstreaker," Sideswipe stopped his twin with a hand on his arm as he looked at the ID chip more closely, remembering what Inertia had said about an Autobot officer sneaking in and helping the resistance. As much as he'd like to believe Rivet, however, Sideswipe did want some proof - fortunately Rivet had his ID chip, and had kindly handed it over. Sideswipe couldn't read it without the right equipment, but he knew how to test authenticity and ownership easily enough. That was a standard skill any business mech or femme needed, even before the war, if they were going to avoid being cheated or swindled. Rivet, seeming to understand this, held his hand out, and Sideswipe placed the chip in the other mech's palm, face up.

"Autobot Lieutenant Jazz, Special Operations Division," the smaller mech said, and a visible surge of energy, originating from somewhere near his spark, went down his arm to the chip, which flared white before flashing blue a few times and returning to its original dull metal colour. Sideswipe quickly picked it up again and sent his own little pulse of energy into the chip, which made an angry noise at him and flared red.

"It's his, Sunstreaker," Sideswipe said, handing the chip back, and Rivet - or rather, Jazz - quickly returned it to his subspace before raising the blue visor again to reveal the red optics of his disguise.

"I still don't believe his story of how he got in here. Especially with Voltage spying on the resistance. He would have been found out as soon as he contacted them," Sunstreaker said, crossing his arms and glaring at Jazz.

"I was careful t'limit my interaction wit the resistance. I have yet t'meet any of them face-t'-face without a disguise, an' Voltage has long since been...dealt with," Jazz's grin was Decepticon-worthy.

"Good," Sunstreaker said, grimly.

"So why are you going to all this trouble to tell us this now?" Sideswipe asked, sensing that his brother was satisfied with Jazz's explanation now.

"Cuz the resistance is plannin' a big battle, an' it's gonna start goin' down while you guys're out there," Jazz said, nodding to the arena. "It's been carefully planned over th' last several orns t' cause maximum damage. Even if it falls far short of our expectations, it'll be enough for th'Bots to get some backup and transports in here, at least, an' get th'last non-Decepticons outta th'city."

"And the only two places in Kaon with non-Decepticons anymore are this arena and the resistance," Sideswipe filled in the gap.

"'Xactly," Jazz said with a nod. "So, when the shootin' starts...well, it'd be much 'preciated if y'didn't tear inta any mechs or femmes with a red symbol on 'em."

"Of course we won't," Sunstreaker said disdainfully, then glanced to the door. "We're up now."

"How soon is this going to happen?" Sideswipe asked as his brother headed for the arena door.

"Any nanoclick now," Jazz said.

"Good," Sideswipe said with a nod, and Jazz slipped out the far door even as Sideswipe joined his brother at the arena door. Moments later it opened, and the two brothers stepped out into the arena. Their gaze focused almost immediately on the far doors, which their opponent was just being shoved through. Both of them noticed the prominent Autobot symbol, as well as the fact that the mech's model meant he was a long-range fighter, and definitely not melee. They were meant to slaughter him. He seemed to realize it, as well, but instead of panicking, or even rushing to attack them, the Autobot settled into a determined stance, waiting for them to come to him.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker glanced at each other, then gave identical grins as they turned back to the Autobot. Separating without a word, they slowly closed in on the Autobot, and they could hear a curious silence from above them as their audience watched this apparently new move of theirs. It wasn't really a move, actually, it was just the twins trying to delay the fight as long as possible. Now that they knew there was a chance to escape coming up soon, they weren't going to kill any more Autobots if they could help it.

The Autobot easily avoided their charges once they got close enough to him, and with matching grins, the twins began their chase. Who was chasing who switched up occasionally, but the Autobot seemed to have realized they weren't out to actually harm him, and played along. Then the first of the explosions sounded above them, and the three gladiators stopped entirely. The twins glanced at each other, then the Autobot - who produced a crystallized energon grenade and arched an optic ridge at them.

"I don't know who you are, but I want your toys. And your engineers, for managing to make toys that the Decepticons can't find," Sideswipe said gleefully.

"My name is Prowl, and if you follow me, you can have both," the Autobot said with faint amusement.


	8. Break These Chains and Fly

Prowl didn't wait for them to respond, already heading for the 'prisoner' side of the Gladiator Arena. He armed and tossed the grenade when he was close enough, then quickly transformed and sped away before it exploded, destroying the entire door and some of the wall. Sideswipe turned to Sunstreaker and tugged on his arm, giving his brother his best pathetic look.

"Oh don't even look at me like that," Sunstreaker said wearily. "We're already going with him." Sideswipe smiled brightly.

"Yay!" he exclaimed, then at the Autobot's signal, the twins transformed and took off after him, heading into the prep room for the prisoners. It was exactly as Sideswipe remembered it, but somehow, digging among the weapons, Prowl produced three working blasters.

"I assume you two are some of those that intelligence has reported have been forced to take the Decepticon symbol," the mech said, holding onto all three blasters as he turned back to them.

"We are," Sideswipe said with a nod.

"We work best with our hands, though," Sunstreaker said, nodding to the blasters.

"You'll need them for the locks. What's the name of the arena manager?" Prowl asked, almost casually, as he began checking the blasters energy packs.

"Riv -" Sideswipe stopped himself, seeing the mech in front of him tense up, and grinned slightly - a test. Jazz had probably planned for them to be fighting the Autobot, but Prowl wanted to make sure everything had gone according to plan. "Jazz," Sideswipe corrected himself, and Prowl looked up. Noticing Sideswipe's knowing grin, the Autobot nodded slightly, then handed the twins two of the blasters.

"According to intelligence, there are no Decepticon sympathizers on this side of the Arena, so free everyone. You can pass off the blasters to some of them if you want. Now let's move. We need to do this fast, before the Decepticons have time to fully mobilize, or we're all dead," Prowl replied easily, readying himself by the door before hitting the panel to open it. When no weapons fire was incoming, he darted out, and the twins followed him, keeping an eye out for guards. The only two they came across were at the entrance to the cells, however, and as soon as they spotted Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, they surrendered, fear clear on their face. Apparently they were fans. Prowl locked them in one of the cells before going down the row, shooting off locks along one side. The twins followed, shooting off the locks on the other side of the row, and though at first the prisoners were leery of the Decepticon symbols on their chassis, Prowl was quick to reassure that the twins were on their side.

Then, suddenly, they rounded a corner, and there were half a dozen armed mechs pointing guns at them. Before Sideswipe or Sunstreaker could raise their weapons in response, or even register who was behind the guns, one of the 'mechs' facing them dropped their weapon and all-but-tackled Sideswipe.

"Sideswipe! Thank Primus!" Sideswipe stared down at the familiar red femme clinging to him in shock.

"Inertia, you know these two Decepticons?" one of the mechs with guns asked firmly.

"They're not Decepticons, Wildburst!" Inertia snapped back, and Sideswipe couldn't stop the silly grin that spread over his face as he heard her defending them. He'd been so focused on his brother that he hadn't really had time to think or worry about Inertia, but that didn't stop the overwhelming relief that she was alive, unharmed, and _still_ hugging him.

 _::That grin makes you look mis-clocked,::_ Sunstreaker said grouchily.

 _::I really don't care,::_ Sideswipe replied, and even to himself, he sounded giddy.

"Indeed they aren't," Prowl interrupted their unheard conversation, squeezing past them and stepping forward.

"And who are you?" the mech from before, Wildburst, demanded, though he wasn't as quick to aim his weapon at a mech with an Autobot symbol on his chassis.

"I am Prowl," Prowl stated, giving the mechs a flat look, one optic ridge arched. The guns dropped instantly.

"Sir!" a few of the mechs saluted.

"There is no need for that in battle, relax," Prowl said dismissively. "Right now we need to keep moving. Most of the cells on this side have been opened, but we need to get the friendlies out of the other side, as well. And according to Jazz, that will be more difficult."

"Jazz?" Inertia asked curiously as she finally let go of Sideswipe. The red twin tried not to let his disappointment show as Prowl sighed.

"Oilslick, Blackspot, Heavydark, Greaser, Shadow, Blindspot, stop me when I say a name you recognize -" the Autobot said wearily.

"Shadow would be it," Inertia said, sounding amused.

"Awww, I wanted to see how long until he got to 'Rivet'," Sideswipe said with mock disappointment.

 _"Rivet?_ As in, arena manager Rivet?" one of the freed prisoners asked, sounding horrified.

"Yeah, apparently he's an Autobot spy. Go figure," Sideswipe said dryly. Everyone else looked to Prowl for confirmation, and the Autobot nodded.

"He's been deep undercover since Kaon was taken," he said. "Now let's move." The mechs and femmes of the Kaon resistance followed as Prowl headed back to the Arena, the twenty or so prisoners behind them. Many of the prisoners grabbed weapons as they passed through the prep room, arming themselves determinedly for the battle ahead. The doors on the other side of the Arena were open, which only seemed to make Prowl more wary - and rightly so. They entered the prep room to find Jazz exchanging fire with several mechs in the repair bay.

"Took yer sweet time, Prowler," Jazz said cheerfully as they ducked behind the barrier he'd constructed.

"Could you stick with a codename for more than one mission in a row?" Prowl asked with annoyance.

"Nah, spoils the fun," Jazz said brightly. Prowl made a noise of annoyance, peering over the barricade to the repair bay.

"How, may I ask you, are we supposed to get in there now? There's at least half a dozen mechs in there," Prowl asked.

"I figured we'd send th'twins, if they're amenable," Jazz said, glancing over at Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.

"Who's in there?" Sideswipe asked, peering into the room.

"Triage fer sure, he's the one that started shootin' at me. I saw Wildquake an' Scatterspark, too," Jazz offered.

"Sounds like fun," Sunstreaker said with a dangerous grin, recognizing the names of willing Decepticon gladiators that had been less than friendly to the twins even before they were forced to take the Decepticon symbol.

"You'll get gunned down before you get in the door!" Inertia protested.

"Nah, we'll be fine," Sideswipe said, giving her a grin, then turned to Sunstreaker. "Ready?"

"Whenever you are, bro," Sunstreaker replied easily.

"Then let's go kick Decepticreep aft!" Sideswipe said, darting out from behind the barricade and charging the door.

"'Decepticreep'?! That's _awful,_ Sideswipe!" Sunstreaker yelled in complaint as he followed his twin.

"Yeah, but true!" Sideswipe agreed cheerfully, dodging fire as he headed for a repair bed. He reached his target quickly and hopped over it, finding a mech with a gun that suddenly looked rather scared. Scatterspark's strong point was agility and distance, however, so it was unsurprising that he was a little frightened when he suddenly found himself close to a heavy melee fighter. He wasn't scared for long, though - Sideswipe finished him fast, and moved onto the next mech, knowing his brother was doing the same. Triage was the only one who escaped them, tossing one of the other Decepticons in front of the twins to slow them down as he retreated out of the repair bay.

"Coward," Sunstreaker said disdainfully as he tossed the deactivated Decepticon off to the side. Sideswipe sent his mental agreement before trotting over to the door and waving to Jazz and Prowl cheerfully.

"You can come in now!" he called, and the Autobots left their cover cautiously to enter the room. There were a few murmurs of approval as the resistance members entered, and Sunstreaker preened under the compliments. Inertia looked horrified, stepping up beside Sideswipe as she watched Sunstreaker.

"What happened to him?" she choked out.

"What happened to both of us," Sideswipe said, looking back. "Half these corpses are mine, Inertia." The red femme looked back at him sadly, and Sideswipe turned away uncomfortably, his joy at finding Inertia suddenly turning sour as he realized how much he and his brother had changed, and how much it would shock Inertia. She'd known them for so long before this whole mess, and had been so understanding of their unwillingness to fight, knowing they weren't inherently violent, despite their large sizes and heavy builds. It wasn't like Sideswipe could just pretend to be who he was before the Gladiator Arena, though, especially when they were in a combat situation, and his help was needed. So, doing his best to bury all thoughts and emotions pertaining to Inertia, Sideswipe headed over to his brother as the two Autobots led the group out of the repair bay. Out in the bigger side of the complex, Jazz quickly split them into three groups, two led by Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, the other by him.

"Grab th'friendlies, shoot th'rest, an' meet by th'main doors. If you want anythin' from your quarters, now's the time t'grab it!" Jazz added the last to the twins before they split up.

"Anything we wanted to keep with us was destroyed awhile ago," Sunstreaker said with a snort.

"Then just get goin'," Jazz said with a grin, and then the three groups headed off. Unsurprisingly, the two Autobots stuck together, taking with them the majority of the prisoners from the other side, while it was mostly the resistance following along behind Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, Inertia choosing to go in Sideswipe's group. The groups moved quickly through the halls, their ranged weapons giving them an advantage over the gladiators, who weren't allowed non-integrated weapons outside of the Arena, even if they willingly took the Decepticon symbol. They gathered the few friendlies quickly, until finally they were finding nothing but corpses and empty rooms, and headed for the main doors. The Autobots' group was already waiting there when Sideswipe got there, and Sunstreaker's arrived just behind Sideswipe and Inertia's.

"Everyone listen up!" Prowl called out once they were all there. "The gladiator complex is too close to the Decepticon stronghold for our transports, so we need to get closer to the city walls for back-up and pick-up. That means we're going to have to make a run through Decepticon territory. Those of you that are stronger, if you see someone having trouble keeping up, pick them up and carry them, because the slower we go, the less chance we all have of getting out alive. If you get separated from your group, follow the sound of explosions - they should lead you to the extraction point, which an Autobot strike force and the rest of the Kaon resistance are holding for us." A chorus of various forms of 'understood', and then Jazz split them into six groups, each with a Kaon resistance member in the lead, and they were moving out.

Even split up as they were, however, there was at least half a dozen of them in each group, and that many running mechs and femmes made a nice target. Decepticons harried them as they ran through the streets, and it wasn't long before the groups were separated. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, following Inertia, did their best to keep the other three in their group, all prisoners from the other side of the arena, together, but under a barrage of blaster fire and grenades, two of them panicked and bolted. The third was downed not long after by a lucky shot through his spark chamber, and then it was just Inertia, Sideswipe, and Sunstreaker, running through the streets, heading for the explosions at the wall.

Then, suddenly, there was a roar of jets overhead, a familiar voice yelling obscenities and insults at the Autobots, and Inertia pulled them into a building.

"Fraggit, Megatron wasn't supposed to have time to get here!" she cursed. "He's supposed to be undergoing upgrades."

"Well, if it makes you feel better, he appears to be missing his fusion canon," Sunstreaker said, poking his head outside quickly to see.

"Get back in here! Don't let him _see_ you!" Inertia yelped, dragged Sunstreaker away from the window.

"I'm not stupid," Sunstreaker said disdainfully, shrugging off Inertia's hand.

"Good. We'll just have to wait here until he moves on," Inertia said.

"He doesn't sound like he's moving anymore," Sideswipe said, glancing upwards. "Actually, I think he's landed on the roof."

"Then stay _quiet!"_ Inertia replied, almost pleadingly. "We still have time to get to the transports."

"How _much_ time, exactly?" Sunstreaker asked slightly harshly. "And how much farther do we have to go?"

"The Autobots won't pull out for another two breems, so long as the position can be held," Inertia said. "And we're not far - maybe six blocks away."

"Six blocks?" Sideswipe asked in disbelief, and exchanged looks with Sunstreaker.

"If Megatron is six blocks from the extraction point, they're not going to be able to hold the position," Sunstreaker said grimly. Any comment was cut off by a loud explosion outside, and a horrifying, pain-filled scream echoed across the city. Laughter from up above, and Inertia risked poking her head out.

 _"Primus_ \- they took down one of the transports!" Inertia cursed.

"That means they've got heavy artillery!" Sunstreaker snarled.

"And from the sounds of it, it's coming from the roof," Sideswipe said, now noticing the whine of powerful weapons charging. The twins exchanged glances, then looked at Inertia.

"Stay here," they told her at the same time, then headed for the exit.

"Wait, you can't - you'll be killed!" Inertia said, grabbing Sideswipe's arm. The red twin paused, looking back at her, saw the worry and panic on her face, clearly still having trouble grasping just what the twins could do, now. "I just got you two back," the red femme said softly, pleadingly, and though she said 'two', Sideswipe knew, now, that she meant him. All the emotions he'd pushed down earlier came boiling back to the surface, and standing there, looking down at the pretty red femme that had been by his side for many vorns, had saved his life several times even before the Decepticons had taken Kaon, and had done so several times now afterwards, he made a decision.

 _::Out of all the fragging times -::_ Sunstreaker growled over the bond. _::_ Now _you realize,_ now _you decide to do something about it!::_ Sideswipe ignored his brother, stepping closer to Inertia and cupping her face in his hands.

"We'll be fine," he said softly, and then kissed her. Lightly, carefully, afraid of his own strength now. When he pulled back, Inertia scowled up at him, though Sideswipe could feel her trembling slightly.

"You'd better be," she said.

"Just stay down here, and we'll come back for you once we've chased off Megaglitch and his artillery. Then we can make a run for the extraction point and get out of this pit-slagged city," Sideswipe said with a saucy grin.

"Fine, go," Inertia said with a sigh, stepping out of Sideswipe's grasp.

"Yo, I can't get up there without your jetpack, slagtard!" Sunstreaker needled from the door.

"Keep your armour on, Sunshine, I'm coming!" Sideswipe said in exasperation, then gave Inertia a quick kiss on the forehead before heading after his brother.

"Wait, since when do you have a jetpack?!" Inertia yelped in surprise.

"Jazz gave it to me!" Sideswipe replied with a grin, then grabbed Sunstreaker around the waist, stepped outside, and blasted off. Compared to some of the manoeuvring he'd had to do in the arena, getting to the roof was easy, even if Sunstreaker's added weight meant he used up half of his fuel. He'd really have to see about getting bigger fuel tanks for his jetpack.

Megatron was indeed on the roof, sans fusion canon, yelling orders to his Decepticons as he directed the fight from behind. His frustration at having to do so at a distance was clear on his face, though he seemed to take gleeful pleasure in ordering the two artillery canons where to shoot. Unfortunately, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker recognized both the canons from Decepticon propaganda - Shockwave and Razorblast. They would _have_ to be mechs with artillery alt modes, and not plain old artillery.

 _::This is going to be...fun,::_ Sunstreaker grouched as they landed, Megatron already turning to see what the noise was.

 _::At least Megatron doesn't have his fusion canon,::_ Sideswipe replied.

"Why am I not surprised," Megatron snarled as he recognized them. "Razorblast, deal with them!" The green canon at his side obligingly transformed and headed determinedly forward. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker grinned at each other - one at a time, the occupants of the roof would be easy.

\---

"That's all th'groups but th'twins an' Inertia's, Prowler!" Jazz yelled over the sound of the transport taking off.

"They'd better get here soon, we can't hold the position much longer!" Prowl returned as he lay down cover fire for the last incoming transport, which would stay until it was time to pull out.

"I'm not sure they're gonna be able t'without help," Jazz said, joining Prowl.

"We don't exactly have the resource -"

"Did you notice th'artillery's stopped?" Jazz interrupted, giving Prowl a meaningful look, and the other Autobot gave him a startled glance.

"They wouldn't -"

"They would, an' they have th'ability t'do it successfully," Jazz said grimly. Prowl cursed.

"We still don't have the resources to go rescue them!" he snapped.

"I'll go," Jazz instantly volunteered, and when Prowl gave him an incredulous look, the special ops mech grinned. "Y'know I'm good enough. Lemme go, I'll give 'em a hand an' then rush 'em back." Prowl hesitated. "Prowl, we can't just leave 'em - outta all th'mechs I saw go through th'arena, those two have suffered th'worst, _an'_ they've been goin' toe-t'-toe with Megs an' his two canon lackeys so that our transports could get out. We owe them." 

"Fine!" Prowl snapped. "Go! But if you're not back when we get the call to pull out, I'm _not_ waiting for you!"

"Course not!" Jazz said with a grin, knowing that Prowl would wait as long as he could, even after he got the order to pull out. Prowl glared at him, and Jazz grabbed some of the extra weapons the transport had brought with it before taking off into the streets, towards the building the artillery fire had been coming from.

\---

 _::This is taking too long, Sides!::_ Sunstreaker snarled over the bond as he tried to dodge fire from a transformed Shockwave.

 _::You think I don't know that?!::_ Sideswipe snapped as he landed a solid punch in Razorblast's gut. The green mech staggered, but remained standing. In the background, Megatron roared insults at them in-between directing his troops.

 _::We need a new - mmph - strategy!::_ Sunstreaker declared as one of Shockwave's shots clipped his shoulder.

 _::I'm open to suggestions,::_ Sideswipe said with annoyance.

 _::Collapse the building, with them on top,::_ Sunstreaker said.

 _::Inertia's on the main floor,::_ Sideswipe pointed out.

 _::Yeah, and we're gonna need to get down there anyways to make it collapse, so we can warn her, no problem,::_ Sunstreaker said.

 _::Alright, but how are we supposed to get away from the glitchmice?::_ Sideswipe asked.

 _::Must I come up with everything?::_ Sunstreaker asked with annoyance. Sideswipe growled.

 _::OK, fine, look, you come over here and have at Razorblast. Shocky's not gonna fire when you're in melee with an ally, and it'll take him a bit to lock onto me. It should be enough time for me to get over the edge and get down to the main floor. I can warn Inertia, get her to blow the place, and get back up here. You'll be taking on the two of them, alone, for 30 nanoclicks, tops,::_ Sideswipe said.

 _::Why am I always the one taking on the bad guys while you get your aft out of firing range?::_ Sunstreaker grumbled.

 _::Cuz you're the one without a jetpack!::_ Sideswipe snapped.

 _::Fine, as soon as we get out of here, I'm getting myself a jetpack, and then_ you _can stay and play with the Cons while_ I _get out of their firing range to go play with femmes!::_ Sunstreaker snarled. Sideswipe grinned, then jerked backwards as his brother launched himself as Razorblast. As predicted, Shockwave stopped firing, and Sideswipe made for the edge of the roof as the purple cannon started to turn towards him. A plasma shot sizzled over his head as he dropped off the edge, firing up his jetpack only at the last minute, to break his fall. Hurrying inside, he spotted Inertia quickly, already jogging over to him.

"Sideswipe, what's taking so long? The transports won't stay for much longer!" she said urgently.

"Yeah, we know. You have any of those nifty Autobot explosives on you?" Sideswipe asked.

"Not Autobot, but they're effective, why?" Inertia said, pulling a crude-looking device out of her subspace.

"Effective enough to blast through those girders?" Sideswipe asked, pointing to the support girders for the building.

"Of course. They're demolition-grade," Inertia said curiously.

"Good, plant as many as you have around the main support pillars, arm them, and then get the frag out of here," Sideswipe said.

"Wait, what?! No! Sunstreaker's on the roof!" Inertia blurted.

"And I will be too in a few nanoclicks. It doesn't matter, I have a jetpack - I'll get us off the roof when I hear the explosions. Don't worry about us, just blow the building, and make a run for the extraction point," Sideswipe said, already heading for the door again. "We'll meet you there."

"Sideswipe!" Inertia called out, but Sideswipe glanced back only briefly.

"I can't stay and debate this Inertia, Sunny's up there alone, and he isn't having the best of times. Just blow the building, it's our only chance of getting out of here before the Autobots have to pull out," the red twin said, mentally wincing as he felt the beating his brother was taking - Shockwave had transformed to help Razorblast now, and they were more than a match for Sunstreaker alone. He didn't hear Inertia's reply to that, if she made one, blasting off and heading for the roof. He landed quickly and charged at Shockwave, pulling him off his brother.

 _::That was more than 30 nanoclicks!::_ Sunstreaker snarled.

 _::Sorry!::_ Sideswipe apologized sincerely, and then the two focused on their respective opponents. It wasn't much later when Sideswipe felt the explosions rocking the building beneath them, and grinned at Shockwave before making a dive for his brother. The building began to shake and wobble, clearly ready to collapse, as he grabbed Sunstreaker around his waist and flipped on his jetpack.

It stuttered, sputtered, died.

Out of fuel.

"Oh _slag,"_ Sideswipe whispered, horrified, as he felt the building dropping out from beneath his feet. He hadn't bothered to check how much fuel he had left when he'd landed the second time.

 _::I fragging hate you,::_ Sunstreaker growled as they fell.


	9. Forgot to Remember to Forget

Jazz almost turned back when he saw the building the twins were on collapse, watching the gold and red forms go down with the rubble. Then Megatron, who had hovered above it, laughing cruelly, had landed, and Jazz knew there was something still there. Still, he expected to find the Decepticon leader and Shockwave and/or Razorblast getting ready to execute half-buried twins. It would be difficult for him if it was all three, but as long as the twins were conscious and easy to free, he could manage. He was already making plans for how to do so by the time he rounded the last corner.

What he had _not_ expected was to find Megatron grappling with a battered and dented golden form that was screaming at him about his damaged paint job, while a red and black mech literally ran circles around Shockwave, chucking pieces of rubble at him, and taunting the Decepticon for being too slow. In the midst of all the chaos, another form, recognizable as Razorblast, lay gray and lifeless, a hole torn in his chest where his spark had been.

"Primus, they're _really_ good," Jazz said appreciatively - clearly the twins had been restraining themselves in the arena, if they could do this much damage. Jazz winced slightly as Sunstreaker managed to get a hand latched around Megatron's head and put his thumb through the Decepticon leader's optic. Definitely restraining themselves. The Decepticon leader roared in pain as his optic was smashed, shoving the golden mech away from him as he staggered away. That was when he caught sight of Jazz, and apparently noticed for the first time that Razorblast was down, as well. The mighty leader of the Decepticons then decided that this all meant it was time for a strategic retreat, taking off running, back towards the main fortress.

"Hey, get back here you son of a petro-rat!" Sunstreaker roared after the Decepticon leader, who was yelling for Shockwave to cover 'their' retreat. The canon fired a few obligatory shots at Sunstreaker, keeping him from following Megatron, before transforming and taking off after his leader. Sideswipe tried to follow, but Jazz, jogging out into the field of rubble, grabbed his arm. Sideswipe turned with a snarl.

"They're getting _away!"_ he snapped.

"Yeah, an' if we're gonna get out of here, we gotta let them go," Jazz said. "Now come on." Sideswipe snarled again, but obligingly followed, Sunstreaker joining him. Though the 'rescue' had gone faster than he'd anticipated, Jazz still urged the two brothers to run as they headed towards the extraction point, knowing that the sooner they got back there, the sooner they could leave.

"Hey Jazz, didja see Inertia on your way to us?" Sideswipe called from behind Jazz as they ran.

"Nah, should I'ave?" Jazz asked.

"Not really. There's a lot of routes back to the extraction point from there, I'm sure," Sideswipe said uneasily.

"She was with ya?" Jazz demanded.

"Yeah, she set the charges to blow the building, but she ran out once they were set," Sideswipe tossed back.

"Then she should be waitin' back at th' transports," Jazz replied reassuringly, and Sideswipe nodded as they continued to run. It wasn't long until they were back at the transports, Prowl looking relieved as they rounded a corner.

"How we doin' Prowl?" Jazz asked as the twins almost literally threw themselves into helping with the defence.

"Good, though we can't hold for much longer. All we're really waiting for now is stragglers, and they've been getting fewer," Prowl said grimly.

"Speaking of stragglers, y'seen Inertia come by?" Jazz asked, not immediately seeing her among those helping with the defence, but knowing he could just be overlooking her, or she could be inside the transport, injured or helping move wounded inside.

"The red femme?" Prowl asked as he took a shot at a Seeker, barely missing, but causing the flier to spin out of control for a few moments anyways.

"Yeah. Sideswipe an' Sunstreaker said she set off aheada 'em," Jazz replied.

"I haven't seen her. I've been focused on the sky, however. We have precious few good marksmen," Prowl said.

"Yeah, sure, I'll check around then," Jazz said. He didn't get the chance, though, as Megatron had apparently rallied the rest of the Decepticons, and they launched their attack. It was a fast and dirty retreat for the Autobots, and many of them cringed as they had to leave their dead comrades behind, but there was nothing they could do - if they tried to get them out, they'd die next to them. As it was, it was only due to the exceptional skills of their transport - Jazz reminded himself to put in a commendation for the mech - that they managed to get out without being shot down.

And then, once they were out of Decepticon territory and on their way back to Polyhex, the nearest Autobot-controlled city, the twins found him.

"She's not here," Sideswipe said flatly, looming over Jazz. "You said she would be."

"I said she _should_ be," Jazz corrected softly. "Have y'checked the wounded?"

"We've checked everywhere, she's not here," Sunstreaker answered for his brother, and though his voice was hard, it wasn't as unforgiving as his brother's. Jazz suspected from the glances that the golden twin was giving his brother, in fact, than Sunstreaker was actually calming Sideswipe. It didn't seem to be working too well, though, as Jazz found himself hauled up by the front of his armour and slammed against the bulkhead by the red twin for the second time that day.

"Where the frag is she!" Sideswiped snarled.

"I don't know, yer the ones that saw her last," Jazz replied, trying to keep calm as they began drawing attention.

"Yeah, and you said she'd be back before us. So where is she?!" Sideswipe's voice was rising, and Jazz glanced to his brother, but Sunstreaker merely watched, clearly unwilling to intercede.

"She may not'a gotten out," Jazz said after a moment, looking back at Sideswipe. The red twin snarled, and for an instant, Jazz felt the tiniest trickle of fear as he experienced firsthand the last sight of so many mechs that had died in the gladiator pits. A golden hand grabbed Sideswipe's arm before he could ram it through Jazz's spark, though, and Jazz felt the fear melt away.

"He's not at fault, Sideswipe," Sunstreaker said calmly.

"No? Then who the frag is? Me, for leaving her behind?" Sideswipe spat.

"No," Sunstreaker said flatly. "No, the Decepticon that shot her down is to blame, and they're back in Kaon."

 _"'Shot her down'?_ She may not even be fragging dead! We may have left her back there, still trapped in that pit-forsaken slagheap of a city!" Sideswipe snapped.

"And that's still not Jazz's fault," Sunstreaker replied insistently. Sideswipe snarled one last time, but let Jazz go. The special ops mech landed lightly on his feet, watching warily as Sideswipe shoved his way through the crowded bay of the transport, pushing aside mechs and femmes alike, his brother following behind, not bothering to make apologies. Around Jazz, and following the twins as they went, came the mutterings of the other refugees, none of them very polite and most focusing around the still-prominent Decepticon symbols on the twins' chassis.

Movement to his left dragged Jazz's attention from the mutterings, and he turned in time to see Prowl subspacing his blaster, a thoughtful look on his face. Jazz gave the tactician an ironic smile, and Prowl arched an optic ridge back, then turned and made his way back to the front of the transport.

\---

When the transport landed at Polyhex, Sideswipe was prepared to track down whoever was in charge and demand that they return. The base they'd landed at was a mass of confusion, however, and when the only response Sideswipe got to multiple enquiries for the base's commander was that no one knew where he was at the moment, he reluctantly gave up for the time being.

"Good, my knee is killing me, my side feels like it's about to split open, I have a _leak_ somewhere, and I'm running ridiculously low on energon," Sunstreaker declared when Sideswipe finally gave up, and the red twin glanced at his brother in surprise. For the first time, he took in his brother's injuries, and grimaced guiltily as he saw just how banged up the other mech was. He himself wasn't in much better shape, but with Sunstreaker's propensity for complaining over the smallest scratch, Sideswipe knew his brother had been exceptionally patient with him and his quest to go back and find Inertia.

"I'm...not too good myself," Sideswipe admitted, sending a mental apology over their bond, which Sunstreaker just waved off.

"I think you're actually _worse_ than me, Sides," Sunstreaker said, giving his brother a withering look. "Which is only fair, since you were the one that was _supposed_ to get us off the roof of that building. And you didn't."

"Oh frag you. I was more concerned with getting back up there to help you than I was with checking the fuel on my jetpack," Sideswipe replied with a frown.

"And? It's still your fault we went down with the building," Sunstreaker growled, glaring now.

"If you'll recall, it was _your_ idea -" Sideswipe snapped, but was suddenly cut off in the middle as a white mech with medic's insignias shoved the twins apart, glaring at both equally.

"What the _frag_ are you two doing all the way over _here?_ Did _no one_ tell you that _all_ the injured, walking or not, are to report to the med bay immediately?!" the mech demanded.

"We had -"

"No, mute it, I don't want excuses or reasons or whatever garbage you were going to spout. Get your afts to the med bay _now,_ or so help me Primus, I will haul you there myself!" the strange mech snapped, not letting Sideswipe speak.

"I'd love to see you try," Sunstreaker snarled, more because he didn't like being threatened and ordered around than because he didn't want to go. The mech stared back impassively, not saying a word. After a few moments, Sunstreaker turned away uncomfortably. "We were just about to head there, anyways," he muttered sulkily.

"Good. Then you can come with me," the medic stated, and promptly set off towards the busiest part of the base. Sunstreaker snarled at his back, but followed when a strangely amused Sideswipe grabbed his arm and tugged him after the white medic.

The med bay was swarming with mechs and femmes, most injured, and all of them, medics and injured, looking exhausted. Sideswipe wondered why the medics would be so tired, until he remembered that they had been one of the last transports out - the medics would have been working for almost a joor before they'd arrived, and then Sideswipe had spent another quarter joor trying to find the mech in charge of the base. Now that he looked, in fact, Sideswipe saw that their guide looked exhausted himself. That didn't make him any less intimidating, however, and he virtually glared the two brothers onto a berth.

"What hurts?" the medic stated flatly, and Sunstreaker proceeded to give him a list that consisted of pretty much every part he had. The medic listened without interrupting, and when Sunstreaker finished, he proceeded to pull out a scanner and do his own checking. The medic frowned at what he saw, then ran the machine over Sideswipe without bothering to ask where he was injured.

"Hunh," the medic said thoughtfully, then glanced between Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. "Twins?" he asked unexpectedly. Sideswipe stared. Sunstreaker gaped. "I'll take that as a yes. Could you possibly close off, or at least restrict, the emotional end of your bond? You're echoing each other's pain and, while it's kept you from collapsing so far, it's also putting extra stress on your systems." Sideswipe and Sunstreaker continued to stare, until the medic's look turned into a glare. The two of them quickly did as asked, blocking out each other's emotional responses, and the medic nodded in satisfaction.

"Much better," he said, and Sideswipe groaned as the pain of his own injuries hit him full force.

"If you say so," he gritted out. The medic looked amused, then began gathering tools before setting to work. Neither Sideswipe nor Sunstreaker had been quite sure what to expect from the medic - his rough demeanour seemed to indicate he wouldn't be too gentle, and their experiences with Triage over the past orns had been...well, efficient, but not very pleasant. They were pleasantly surprised by this mech, however - he was conscientious about turning off pain receptors when he set to work on an area, and not only efficient, but talented at what he did, repairing them swiftly and correctly, even without appropriate schematics for their altered frames. Sunstreaker was less than impressed that the medic's response to his inquiry for where to get a repaint was laughter, but Sideswipe was happy enough with having the Decepticon symbol buffed out of their chassis as the medic's final touch.

"Alright, you're done, now get out," the medic declared when the last trace of purple was gone from Sideswipe's chassis.

"That's it?" Sunstreaker asked, surprised at the abruptness.

"Unless there's some other injury that you've somehow managed to hide from me, yes. So get out and make room for someone else," the medic said crankily.

"Uh -" Sunstreaker glanced at Sideswipe, and a question floated over the bond - _::Where the frag are we supposed to_ go _?::_

"Where exactly should we be going _to?"_ Sideswipe decided to ask the medic, since he didn't have any more of a clue than his brother did.

"Oh for -" the medic glared at them both. "Didn't you _listen_ when you got off the transport?!"

"No," Sideswipe replied truthfully - he'd taken off to find the mech in charge as soon as they'd landed. The medic growled, then turned to glance around the med bay. "Cliffjumper! Come show these idiots to the temporary quarters!" the medic hollered, apparently finding who he was looking for. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker watched with fascinated amusement as a red minibot that was helping some of the injured move about, started, staring over his shoulder at the white medic with a 'who, me?' expression. The medic glared, and the red mech - Cliffjumper, presumably - hurried over.

"Uh - follow me then?" he said, hastily turning his attention to the twins, and they hopped off the berth obligingly as their guide all but fled from the med bay, clearly not eager to be the center of the medic's attention. The twins had to hurry to catch up, but fortunately once Cliffjumper was out of the med bay, he slowed down and waited for them. Which turned out to be a good thing, at least in Sideswipe's opinion.

"I'm guessing, since you don't know where the temporary quarters are, that you're the twins Jazz was looking for earlier," Cliffjumper commented as they walked.

"He was looking for us?" Sideswipe asked curiously.

"Yeah, seems he knew you'd taken off before the welcome-to-our-base speech and wanted to make sure you at least knew where to get your energon. Which would be in this building," Cliffjumper said, pointing to a building they were passing.

"That's...good to know," Sideswipe said.

"Gotta say I'm impressed that Jazz himself came looking for you, though," Cliffjumper commented. "Especially right after a mission."

"Impressed?" Sideswipe arched an optic ridge curiously.

"Yeah, I mean, as second in command around here, he's kept pretty busy, and it's even worse when he comes back from missions, cuz he has everything all piled up. We usually don't see him for a couple'a cycles as he tries to catch up on things. Course, he doesn't have as much work to do since Prowl got here, but this was a long mission," Cliffjumper explained readily, seeming completely oblivious to Sideswipes growing interest as he spoke.

"So...Prowl would be the commander of this base?" Sideswipe tried to sound non-chalant, and either he succeeded, or Cliffjumper didn't care that he was overly interested in who was commanding the base.

"Well, for now. He's technically part of the Prime's command staff, but was sent out here to take over from Jazz when things started getting rough in Kaon. Turned out to be a good thing, since Jazz literally had to disappear in the middle of the night when we realized Kaon was being taken over," Cliffjumper said with a chuckle.

"I see. I suppose you're right, then, it was impressive that Jazz took the time to come look for us. We should probably thank him. Do you know where he would be?" Sideswipe asked with all innocence, ignoring Sunstreaker's sharp look.

"Probably 'charging - Ratchet man-handled Prowl to his quarters not long ago, and Jazz would've followed to his own," Cliffjumper said, chuckling at some sort of private joke in that statement, then pointed off to his left. "But that building over there is administration, you should be able to find him there tomorrow - though he probably won't have a lot of time for you. As I said, he's gonna be pretty busy."

"Well, we won't take up much of his time," Sideswipe said mildly. Cliffjumper just nodded, then abruptly stopped.

"Here we are, temporary quarters. Two berths to a room, empty ones will have open doors. Pick whichever empty one you like," Cliffjumper said, motioning to the building they'd stopped in front of. "Anything else you two need?"

"No, I think we're good," Sideswipe said with a bright smile, and Cliffjumper nodded.

"Good. Better get back to med bay then," he said, then turned and trotted off. As soon as he was out of audio range, Sideswipe turned to Sunstreaker, a determined look in his optics.

 _"No,"_ Sunstreaker said firmly. "It can wait until tomorrow - I'm running on fragging empty here, and I know you are too. Even if we convinced Prowl to let us go back, we'd be no good to Inertia when we collapsed from exhaustion."

"But -"

"NO!" Sunstreaker snapped, then stalked into the temporary quarters, heading for the nearest open door, which he promptly closed in his brother's face and locked. By the time Sideswipe had over-ridden the lock and gotten inside, Sunstreaker was deep in recharge on one of the two berths, effectively ending the discussion for the night. Sideswipe scowled for a few moments, but he knew Sunstreaker was right, so he reluctantly lay down on the other berth and settled into an uneasy recharge.

\---

Though he'd looked for the twins after their arrival at the Polyhex base, Jazz didn't find them again until the day after his return, when he'd finally managed to get rid of his Decepticon disguise and was being debriefed. Well, to be more correct, he didn't find them so much as they found Prowl, and Jazz just happened to be in the room. The twins obviously didn't recognize him, or the other mech in the office, but focused their attention on Prowl specifically, having apparently found out that he was in charge of the Polyhex base.

"We want to go back," Sideswipe stated flatly after storming in. Sunstreaker was leaning by the door, scowling at everyone, obviously not pleased to be there - though for what reason in specific, Jazz was unsure - but Sideswipe was right up by Prowl's desk, hands planted on its top and doing his best to loom over the tactician.

"To Kaon?" Prowl asked, arching an optic ridge.

"No, to Iacon," Sideswipe said sarcastically, then growled. "Of course to Kaon!"

"Returning to Kaon is impossible," Prowl replied reasonably.

"I don't care. I will not leave Inertia in that pit-forsaken city. I want to go back and find her," Sideswipe snarled.

"I understand your desire to save the femme, however returning to Kaon in any sort of military endeavour at this point in time would be nothing short of suicide," Prowl stated firmly, finally standing from his chair so he was level with Sideswipe in an attempt to get the red twin to listen to him. "The Decepticons have doubled their guards and armed them to the teeth, keeping the heavy artillery primed and ready at all times."

"I will not leave her there!" Sideswipe insisted.

"Chances are she's already dead," Prowl stated flatly. "The Decepticons have demolished the Gladiator Pits, and are reportedly executing anyone even thought to have Autobot sympathies. We have lost several undercover operatives in the past several joors, and the only one that managed to get out is currently dying in med bay from his wounds. You would be going back for nothing but her body."

"Frag you! You don't know that! Inertia hid out in Kaon for the orns it took you slagtards to get your afts in gear and come rescue the rest of us, she could very well be doing the same now!" Sideswipe snapped.

"And if she was uninjured enough to get to one of those hiding places, she would have also been able to get to the extraction point. I'm sorry, but there is very little chance she is alive," Prowl stated firmly. "Even if she were, there is no plausible way to return."

"It was supposed to be impossible to get in and out the first time," Sideswipe stated angrily.

"It was difficult, not impossible," Prowl corrected.

"You are not the only ones who want to return," the third mech that had been at the briefing the twins had interrupted said, speaking up and startling the twins with his presence. "Our latest reports indicate that the transport that was shot down during the escape was not only alive, but stable, as were many of her passengers, when we pulled out. Several good officers and soldiers were on that transport, not to mention innocent neutrals rescued from the Gladiator Pits along with you and the others. We dislike leaving them there to die as much as you dislike leaving your friend behind, but there is no way for us to return without sacrificing our own lives. The best we can do is carry on fighting in their name, and make sure that the Decepticons who have by now surely killed them face justice." Sideswipe snarled in response.

"I don't fragging care about _justice,_ or this stupid fragging _war_ you're all carrying on, I just want Inertia back, and I _will_ go back and get her, by any means necessary, no matter how many _pretty speeches_ you make to try and convince me otherwise!" he snapped, then turned and stormed out of the room. Sunstreaker muttered something impolite about his brother quietly and then followed him out, glaring around indiscriminately. Silence fell in the office as the two brothers left.

"He has no idea who I am, does he?" the other mech said thoughtfully as he watched them go.

"Nope, not a clue, Prime," Jazz said with a grin. Prowl shook his head and sighed.

\---

After the unhelpful meeting with Prowl Sideswipe tried to head for the transport hangers, but Sunstreaker pulled him away, reminding his brother that all the Autobot transports on base were intelligent, which meant they wouldn't be too keen on returning, either.

"Well what _else_ are we supposed to do?!" Sideswipe snapped.

"Be resourceful," Sunstreaker stated flatly, more than a little fed up with his brother's obsession. Sure, he didn't like the thought that they'd left Inertia in Kaon to die, but he wasn't as blind as Sideswipe - between the rumours he'd been hearing around the base, and what Prowl had told them, he knew that is was highly unlikely that the red femme was still alive.

"Resourceful - how?" Sideswipe asked with a frown.

"You're the merchant, make some deals. You had some good business contacts here in Polyhex, look them up, see if one of them has a way to get us back to Kaon," Sunstreaker suggested with irritation. It was a measure of how upset Sideswipe was that Sunstreaker had to point this out - usually, Sideswipe had been the first to think of making a deal, negotiating his way out of things.

"Right. Business contacts," Sideswipe said, and after a long pause, Sunstreaker gave him an incredulous look.

"Don't tell me -"

"Inertia had all their contact frequencies," Sideswipe said flatly. Sunstreaker started snickering, and Sideswipe glared at him. "Oh just shut up - I'm sure there's a directory around somewhere, I can look up their names." Finding a directory was easy, however actually getting to use it proved to be more difficult than Sideswipe had thought - the base was overflowing with the rescued mechs and femmes, all of whom were trying to find their friends and family. There were line-ups half a joor long to get access to the directories, and neither twin felt like waiting that long. Especially since the line for using a communications channel was even _longer._

"You _have_ to know the location of _some_ of your contacts." Sunstreaker said, now apparently vastly amused as Sideswipe tried to find some way, any way, to get in contact with some of his old contacts in Polyhex.

"You know fragging well I flew. Premiere building materials exporter and all that," Sideswipe said irritably. "You know this isn't funny, the longer this takes us the more chance that Inertia will be killed by the Cons."

"I know, I'm just appreciating the irony of you needing Inertia to get the resources to go find Inertia," Sunstreaker said with a grin. Whatever biting remark Sideswipe had in reply to that was cut off by a commotion in the direction of the communications center. Curious, the twins turned in the building's direction, only to see all the refugees being escorted out of the building, Autobot soldiers setting up a perimeter, grim faces on all of them.

"Huh. Wonder what's..." Sideswipe trailed off as he and Sunstreaker watched Prowl and the two mechs he'd been meeting with earlier make their way through the crowd, their expressions just as grim as the soldiers'. "Come on," Sideswipe said, grabbing Sunstreaker's arm and hauling him forwards.

"What? Why?" Sunstreaker yelped in surprise.

"Because something big is going down and I want to know what it is," Sideswipe replied.

"And just what makes you think you're going to be able to get to the doors, let alone inside?" Sunstreaker asked with a frown.

"Because, my dear brother, we're the two most feared gladiators of Kaon, and the mechs and femmes who know that best are the ones between us and the building," Sideswipe said, then put on his best scowl and started shouldering his way through the crowd, though he was as gentle as he could be about it. Soon enough the crowd split for him and Sunstreaker, anyways, nobody wanting to get in their way. Then, suddenly, there was a soldier in front of them, and miraculously, it was one they knew - Cliffjumper.

"Cliffjumper, buddy," Sideswipe said brightly, turning on the charm, while Sunstreaker sighed and shook his head. "What's happening?"

"Can't say," Cliffjumper said grimly.

"Aww, c'mon, you know us. You can tell us," Sideswipe wheedled. Cliffjumper frowned, his optics skipping over to the mechs and femmes of the crowd within hearing distance, many of whom were being entirely obvious about the fact that they were listening in. "A little hint?" Cliffjumper hesitated, but shook his head.

"Sorry guys," he said. Sideswipe didn't let that discourage him, and Sunstreaker sighed as his brother settled into full information-wheedling mode. Cliffjumper either didn't know much or was good at keeping his mouth shut, though, as Sideswipe got nothing. Eventually, of course, the people inside had to tell the refugees something, and it was Jazz who did the honours. Not that the twins knew it was Jazz until the soldiers guarding the building greeted him by name - the twins had to stare for a moment, the mech looked almost entirely different. The only things that had stayed the same on him were his helm design and visor. He had an entirely new paintjob and build, looking rather oddly like a reverse of Prowl now.

"A'right, sorry 'bout this gentlemechs an' femmes, an emergency has come up an' the communications center is gonna be closed until we deal with it," Jazz said. "In the mean time, you can still use the directories and get yourselves patched up. If the situation continues, we'll see 'bout findin' alternate channels for ya t'use." The crowd muttered slightly.

"What kind of emergency?" someone called out.

"Th'kind that needs our attention," Jazz replied unhelpfully, grinning unrepentedly. "It's nothin' you need t'worry 'bout." Jazz turned and disappeared back inside as the crowd, taking its cue from the first question, shouted out more. The crowd muttered unhappily after Jazz disappeared, but began dispersing. Sideswipe stuck around for awhile longer, trying to get Cliffjumper to tell him something, but was ultimately unsuccessful, letting Sunstreaker drag him away eventually to get energon.

"Feels almost like we went from one prison to another," Sideswipe muttered uncharitably as he twirled his empty energon cube, having downed it in one gulp. Sunstreaker snorted, still sipping his own cube. "Ok, the analogy is somewhat lacking, but still! We don't have anything to do, we can't go the one place we really want to, and nobody in charge will talk to us. Doesn't seem to be a lot of difference to me."

"You'll be seeing shortly just how much of a difference there is." Prowl's unexpected comment made Sideswipe jump, jerking his head around to see the mech standing behind him solemnly. "Follow me," he said, turning to leave again, and Sideswipe scrambled to do just that, while Sunstreaker downed the remained of his cube, then casually rose and strode out, pretending not to know his stumbling brother as all the rest of the occupants in the energon dispensary watched them go. They were silent as Prowl led them out and across the compound to the communications building, entering the main door unchallenged.

Inside, they found organized chaos. The communications center was comprised of one large room with view screens and communications consoles on all sides, with two hallways sprouting off from either side, hosting private communications rooms and offices. All the doors to those offices and private rooms were currently open, with mechs and femmes scurrying in and out, and around the main room. Occasionally someone called out to someone else, but mostly all they heard was the eerie hum of hushed, worried conversations. Wrapped up in their own doings, no one paid any attention to Prowl and the twins as they threaded their way through the main room - not to the hallways, but to the raised platform on the far side, above which the main viewer hung, currently displaying a tactical map of Iacon. A large mech, who Sideswipe recognized as the one to make the pretty speech earlier that morning in Prowl's office, was standing in front of the view screen, Jazz standing morosely at his side, flipping through images on a different, smaller viewer.

"Jazz," Prowl said simply as he climbed the steps to the platform, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker following. Jazz looked up, frowning, then smiled tiredly as he saw the twins.

"Sides, Sunstreaker, come tell me I'm seein' things," Jazz said in greeting.

"What?" Sideswipe asked curiously, but Sunstreaker just frowned, stepping up beside Jazz and peering down at the console.

"Isn't that..." Sunstreaker trailed off, but Jazz finished for him.

"Shatterspark," the other mech said with a grimace. "One of your fellow gladiators that was forced to sign on with the Cons." Sideswipe stepped up, frowning, as Jazz pressed another button and the image zoomed out, showing that the recognizable face was only connected to a torso - Shatterspark's arms and legs had been ripped off, leaving wires and hoses open and dangling. As there were no visible wounds on the torso or head, it was entirely likely that the mech had bled out from his missing limbs.

"Where..."

"Iacon," the large mech, the only other one on the platform, rumbled sadly. "The Decepticons began buzzing the city earlier today."

"We thought they were just trying to show off their aerial superiority, but then they started dropping...bodies," Prowl said with a grimace from the other side of the large mech.

"They what?" Sideswipe asked in shock.

"They've been dropping the bodies of the dead from Kaon on Iacon. And not just recent bodies - Jazz has recognized several from Arena matches over the last orn," the large mech answered solemnly, nodding to Jazz.

"An' do I ever wish I hadn't," Jazz said almost too softly to be heard.

"To scare the Autobots," Sunstreaker supplied in a flat tone, ignoring Jazz's comment, and the large mech nodded.

"To demoralize us," he elaborated. "Unfortunately, judging from the reports in Iacon, and from the atmosphere in here, they're succeeding. I'm worried about what releasing this information to the refugees here will do."

"So? Not to be callous or anything, but how is this our problem? We're not even Autobots. Just get the Prime to make some nice speech to charge up the troops," Sunstreaker said. Sideswipe frowned at his brother, but the golden twin ignored him, focussing on the large mech in front of him.

"Under these circumstances, I'm not sure how much a speech would help. Actions are needed," the large mech said, then paused, seemingly choosing his next words carefully. "However, actions from those such as us, who are mostly uninvolved, would be as meaningless as a speech. We need those that are involved, those whom this insult directly affects, to stand up and take action, to show the others who might get discouraged that we will not let the Decepticons get away with this. That we will bring them to justice." Sideswipe stared at the large mech in confusion, not understanding where he was going with this, but apparently Sunstreaker did.

"Show us," the golden mech said impassively, turning to Jazz.

"Are you sure -"

"Show us!" Sunstreaker demanded, and with a sigh, Jazz reached down and hit another button on his console, and the image switched. Sideswipe studied the new face that had appeared on the monitor, but as still as it was, with all the color washed out, it took him several moments to realize what - who - he was looking at. When in sunk in, he stumbled backwards, flipping off his optics in an attempt to block the image from his CPU. Steady hands caught him, prevented him from moving, and then the bond opened, letting Sunstreaker's own grief and comfort flow through wordlessly. Sideswipe unrepentedly took everything his brother could give him, needing Sunstreaker's emotions to drown his own, to block out the image of...of Inertia's lifeless body.

Emotions whirled within him, washing through his consciousness one after the other, unable to catch hold and stay for long before they were swept away by another. He didn't know what to feel, what to think. There was barely anything more than a working friendship between him and Inertia, and yet in the short time he'd been reunited with her, there had been so much more building up. And now...there was nothing. Nothing at all.

Except rage.

Sideswipe flipped his optics back on to three worried faces, and his brother's harsh assurances that they were fine, they didn't need a medic. Pushing away from Sunstreaker, Sideswipe forced himself to look at the monitor again, but it was dark. He wasn't sure if he was glad or not that the image of Inertia's corpse was no longer being displayed, but it did make it easier for him to focus. He understood, now, what the large mech had been getting at, what had clued Sunstreaker in to the fact that Inertia was dead.

"We'll do it," he growled. "Whatever you need us to do - we'll do it. They need to pay."

"They need to be brought to _justice,"_ the large mech stressed with slight disapproval.

"A death for a death. Sounds like justice to me." Sideswipe stated flatly.

"And would Inertia want you to kill in revenge for her death?" Jazz asked softly. Sideswipe scowled, ready to punch the other mech for questioning him on what Inertia would want, but memories flitted into his mind - _"Not all of us are fighters, and part of being an Autobot is understanding that and protecting those that aren't. What you've done helps, and that's all I or any other Autobot will ever ask." - "What happened to him?" "What happened to both of us. Half these corpses are mine, Inertia."_

Sideswipe frowned as Inertia's horrified face lingered in his CPU, and he looked over at Sunstreaker, who looked back solemnly.

 _::Justice, Sideswipe. It's what she would want. Not a rampage on her behalf,::_ Sunstreaker said over the bond, and Sideswipe grimaced.

"Justice," he echoed. "We will bring them to justice."

"I'm glad," the large mech said solemnly. "Though you may not have suffered the most, thanks to Jazz, you are the ones whose story I know, and it would...reassure me, to see you recover, to be able to move on."

"Recover? Move on?" Sideswipe considered. "I doubt it. But we can bring those responsible to justice."

"Them and more," Sunstreaker said, surprising Sideswipe as he stepped up next to his brother, giving the large mech a steely look. "We may not have liked how it happened, or wanted it to happen, but we have been trained to fight, and there is no reason to let that training go to waste. We will bring those responsible for this -" Sunstreaker motioned to the monitor displaying Iacon, "To justice, and then we will continue to fight, to prevent such wrongs from being committed again. As Autobots."

 _::Autobots?::_ Sideswipe questioned his brother.

 _::Autobots,::_ Sunstreaker replied firmly. _::You can't go back to being a merchant anymore than I can go back to painting. We have changed, our lives have changed, and this is where it's all led us.::_

"You will be welcome among our ranks," the large mech said. "Both for your abilities, and for your desire to see justice done, and not revenge and slaughter." Sunstreaker nodded in response, and then Jazz stepped forwards.

"Come on, I'll take you two t'the med bay for your insignias. We can do th'big announcement later, once things have settled down a bit an' Prowler's written up a 'nice speech'," the mech said, grinning slightly at the last part. Prowl scowled at Jazz, but the other mech's grin didn't dim as he hustled Sideswipe and Sunstreaker out of the Communications building.

"Wait, that's it?" Sideswipe asked when they were out of the building, surprised. "Don't we need to take an oath or something? I thought you Autobots liked to have your recruits swear an oath to the Prime."

"You just did," Jazz said, his small grin widening to a full-fledged one. "Or close enough to an oath."

"Close enou...wait," Sideswipe skidded to a halt, refusing to go further as Sunstreaker and Jazz turned to look at him. "You mean, that was -"

"Sentinel Prime," Jazz filled in with a grin.

"Glitch," Sunstreaker added with a shake of his head, then resumed walking towards the med bay, a chuckling Jazz quickly catching up. Sideswipe stared after them in confusion for a few more moments before hurriedly catching up.

 _::How did I not recognize him?!::_ he asked his brother over the bond.

 _::You're glitched?::_ Sunstreaker suggested.

 _::I am not. That medic the other day said I was fine,::_ Sideswipe retorted.

 _::'Fine' is a relative term,::_ Sunstreaker retorted. Sideswipe glared at his brother, but the glare quickly dropped as his looked up thoughtfully.

 _::So...that means we're actually Autobots now,::_ he said.

 _::Yes. For better or for worse,::_ Sunstreaker said with a sigh.

_::This was your idea, you know. I want to point that out now, so that if it is for worse, I have it on record that I warned you that I'll be blaming you if it all goes to the Pits,:: _Sideswipe pointed out.__

_::Fine, Sideswipe. If it all goes to the Pits, you have my permission to blame away,::_ Sunstreaker said irritably.

_::Somehow I have a feeling it won't, though,:: _Sideswipe said, thoughtfully. _::I think this is where we were meant to be.::___


End file.
